Rewards Extra Checking

Over the Top Rewards

Rewards Extra Checking is Renasant Bank’s premier checking product, boasting off-the-charts benefits such as roadside assistance, a life insurance plan, access to more than 400,000 local deals via the Renasant Rewards Extra app, and many more. It deserved the backing of a major video project, and the bank had an idea of what that might look like. And, when we saw the detail sheet for the updated checking product, we knew every person in the region would want it—so we had to pull out all the stops. 

But Wait, There’s More

With benefits as extreme as these, we knew we needed a message to match it. We’ve all clicked on the TV at 3 a.m. only to find hokey infomercials playing on a loop.  Although this format doesn’t necessarily align with the ideals of traditional bank advertising, we knew there was something enduring about it. The crazy product demos, the dramatic acting—it’s a potent mix of factors that just about anybody can laugh at. Armed with a healthy dose of self-awareness and a penchant for parody, we set out to create a lengthy spot that adequately communicated each benefit of Renasant Rewards Extra entertainingly and memorably.

Communicating Real Value

As with any project promoting Rewards Extra, finding a way to clearly communicate the account’s full list of features and benefits without losing the audience’s attention was our biggest challenge. With almost a dozen features worth talking about, we needed to fine-tune both the script and video’s creative direction to hit the account’s highlights in a way that felt natural. We weren’t just selling a fancy mop or the next best cleaner, but a product that is vital to a client’s day-to-day lives—so the audience needed plenty of reasons to make a switch.

Strategy

While most of our campaigns avoid cheesiness at all costs, we took the opposite path in bringing Renasant’s idea to life. We spent an hour or two watching cheesy infomercials—for inspiration purposes, of course—and listed out some familiar tropes we felt could be translated into the spot. For the video to be successful, viewers needed to understand the joke from the minute the commercial began, so we invested our time searching for talent who could really carry the concept. To tie the concept together, our host character—Downtown Danny Dinkler—had to be able to play off the script’s sheer ridiculousness while relaying factual information about the Renasant Rewards Extra account. By combining these two strategies, we devised a perfect formula to always have the viewer asking, “What’s next?”

Leaning Into the Joke

It’s a great feeling to walk away from a project that we are genuinely proud to call our own, and that’s precisely what happened here. The commercial lives on a Rewards Extra landing page, where it is presented to prospects and clients who clicked a series of related geo-targeted digital ads. We’ve also run the spot in late-night TV slots within select markets to really lean into its authentic infomercial feel. So, the next time you’re watching TV in hopes of curing a bout of insomnia, you may find yourself being greeted by Downtown Danny Dinkler, right in your living room.