4 best ads for loans during the Summer of 2016

Banking services aren’t in crazy demand during the summer months, but that hasn’t completely stopped banks and fintech companies from cranking out video shorts promoting loans. And who can blame them? Loans are an extremely profitable product for the industry. In Q2 2015, for instance, U.S. lenders earned a record $43 billion in profits. So are lenders able to compete with big retail brands when it comes to producing creative digital video ads with compelling narratives? We think not. But at the very least, these ads show that banks and their fintech compatriots are trying. Payday lenders didn’t make the cut, because they’re gross, and also because their ads are so very boring. 1) Aussie Australian home lender and mortgage broker Aussie’s September 2016 ad has a family applying for a loan in an airy, bright room, among dozens of service providers eager to assist and a jovial boss helping Mom and Dad choose the very best home loan option for them. Too bad Australia is so very far away. 2) State Farm Insurance State Farm’s June 2016 car loan/insurance commercial cleverly parallels a young woman getting a car and an older businessman discovering that his car has been jacked. Though they each say the exact same sentences, “I cannot believe this” and“what a day”, they each benefit from a different financial service from the insurance provider. We cracked a smile. 3) Quicken Loans Rocket Mortgage Quicken Loans and its Rocket Mortgage product are a big deal in the online lending mortgage scene. The company claims that it’s the nation’s largest online retail mortgage lender and the second largest retail mortgage lender in the U.S. The company’s $5 million Super Bowl ad riled consumers, who believed that Rocket Mortgage spelled the housing apocalypse 2.0. The firm's 2016 summer ads have avoided any major controversy so far, and tap into the renewed Star Trek franchise, with Vulcans discussing and explaining how Rocket Mortgage works. Frankly, the use of a nearly emotionless creature to promote a mortgage product is a little bit more than puzzling to us. Quicken Loans client Vulcan is the “happiest humanoid in the galaxy", thanks to Rocket Mortgage. 4) Sainsbury’s Bank Ok, so this video was actually posted back in May, before summer kicked off, but it snuck onto the list thanks to its really funky cinematography, which intersperses the loan applicants’ narrative with wacky short clips that enact what the family is talking about. The bank has a number of 2016 YouTube shorts that follow the same template, advertising other products, like travel money and credit cards. The UK Brady Brunch Fiona and Ashley need a loan to expand their house so that their combined family doesn’t “boil over”.