Critique: Barclaycard

Welcome to the last critique of mine that will be discussing an advertisement. This last post will be based around my favourite advertisements of all time; The Barclaycard Rollercoaster Advert. I'm a huge fan of all the usual roller coasters at theme parks, so this was right down my street. I think the concept of the advertisement is super clever.

Barclaycard, part of Barclays Business and Retailing Banking, is a global payment business. The Barclaycard was the first credit card introduced in the UK, coming into service in 1966. Barclaycard claims it is Europe's leading issuer of credit cards with 10.4 million customers in the UK and 10.8 million outside of the UK. The main offices are in Northampton, along with several floors at Barclays' HQ, One Churchill Place in Canary Wharf, London.

This advertisement was a follow-on from the hit water slide ad which was aired in November 2008. Directed by Theo Thwaites, the water slide production was a huge success with the public, sweeping in a total of 1 million views within the first month on YouTube. The ad features the 1976 single Let Your Love Flow by the Bellamy Brothers. The ad saw this single creep back into the UK Singles Chart and UK Top 40 Chart in late 2008 and early 2009.

Barclaycard Water Slide Advert

So looking at these advertisements, Barclaycard have gone from water slides to roller coasters with the launch of a TV campaign that uses the CGI special effects technology employed to send Tobey Maguire swooping through the skyscrapers. The ad, which is set to More Than A Feeling from rock-band Boston, features a happy-go-lucky Barclaycard user who travels to work hassle-free by a roller coaster. During the trip, the commuter uses Barclaycard's contact-less user payment. The ad aired on 24th January 2010 during an episode of ITV1's Dancing On Ice.

Paul Troy, the head of advertising and content at Barclaycard, said that the campaign was the most technically advanced the company had produced. In an interview with The Guardian, Troy stated "I think it was quite brave when the financial meltdown happened to keep with the style of creative we have. It feels anti-recessionary even if it wasn't designed to be." 

Barclaycard Roller Coaster Advert

Following on from the adverts, Barclaycard released a free application/game on the iPhone which was based around the water slide, with over 250,000 copies being downloaded on Christmas Day 2010 alone, and 8,500,000 million to date as of May 2012. In my opinion this is a really good marketing approach as it will get people talking, and every time either of the adverts appear on the television, the word-of-mouth technique will kick in and remind people that there is an iPhone application they are able to download. Troy added that there would not be another ad of this nature, and they "weren't going to do a sequel of a sequel."

The closing line of the advertisement is 'contact-less technology from Barclaycard making payments simpler.' This sums up everything the ad is for, in one simple sentence. If people were unaware of what the ad's message is, they will know now. 

I like how advert is a mixture of real life features and computer generated images (CGI). The whole production was filmed with 40 pieces of real track, a carriage, and the rest was CGI. The realism of the advert is really felt when watching it. Nowadays, it's clear as day that most adverts use CGI, but this looks quite realistic. That's what separates it from all of the other adverts out there on TV. Taking in to consideration that the water slide was made in 2007 (aired in 2008), and how much CGI graphics have come on since then, it's quite hard to believe just how realistic it is. 

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

http://www.mjz.com/directors/nicolai-fuglsig/biography/ - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barclaycard - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/jan/22/barclaycard-waterslide-rollercoaster - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014
http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2008/barclaycard-water-slide/ - accessed on 9th-Feb-2014
http://www.barclaycard.com/what-we-do/innovation/iphone.html - accessed on 12th-Feb-2013