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November 13, 2006

Very, very, very rewarding!

Citi

By now, you've likely seen Victor and Roman quirking their way across your screen and proclaiming that Citi is, "Rewarding. Very, very, very rewarding!"

Talk about standing out from the flock.

Thanks to some great copy and the direction of Jared Hess, the spots are impossible to miss, impossible to ignore and practically impossible to forget (rewards are "tiger fast"  and "no madness can stop Citi's rewarding ways" are lines that occur to me unaided). We here at AC, can't help but tip our caps to the writers involved ("I will do it restrained by this restraining device"). Oh, and the casting in and of itself is something to marvel at.

Despite the executional deliciousness, not everyone is on board with the strategy behind the campaign. Indeed, this is a big change in tone from "Live Richly." A quick scan of the information at hand didn't give us an indication of Live Richly's ultimate fate. We welcome clarification. In any case, Citi has a huge spend behind Victor and Roman. Credits to Fallon and Atmosphere BBDO.

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» Ineffective, Very Very Very Ineffective from Jaffe Juice
The Citi commercials with Victor and Roman are really great...when fast forwarding through commercials, I'll often TiVo and go back to watch them multiple times. So what's the problem? It's the contradiction perhaps between creative and effective. Look... [Read More]

» Victor is wicked annoying! from Informed Banking
Victor, the new spokesman for Citibanks Rewards credit cards really bugs me. In the latest commercial, he uses the term wicked as in fast. Since I live in Massachusetts, I know what this means, and hold the term in hi... [Read More]

Comments

Not sure if they will benefit from Borat blowing up huge like he is. In a way, they come off like the Anti-Borat. Generically foreign enough in a non-offensive way.

These Citibank ads do stand out. They are memorable--in part because they are creative and in part because they are annoying. A similarly memorable, quirky, but (I think) friendlier approach is being taken by the "They Miss You"/Rozerem campaign. I'd love to hear/read your thoughts on these two very different campaigns--pros and cons. For instance, are the goals of the Citibank campaign better served by Seinfeld-ishly grating characters, while the goals of the Rozerem campaign are better served by "kinder, gentler" characters?

P.S. I love the podcast!

Is that Harvey Keitel playing Victor?

Let's settle it - is Judd Hirsch playing Victor?

Tom...that's a great observation.

These crack me up. Some of the best spots at the moment.

Annoying..very very annoying

So annoying that i wouldn't even consider one of their credit cards til they stop these stupid commercials.

Fantastic. I routinely tivo-forward through *all* commercials, but these are funny enough that I tivo TO this spot, watch it a couple of times, get in a good chuckle, and then go back to football.

This commercial is my role-model for life. I want to be just like those guys and I worship them daily by watching every channel waiting for their commercial to come on. I hope one day I can meet them in person and get him to say "REWARDING!!! VEDI VEDI REVODING!!!!

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