It’s not every day that a business turns 100 years old. It’s not every day that a bank turns 100 years old, especially in the market we’ve had recently. So when our long-time client, First Community Bank, wanted a campaign celebrating their 100th anniversary, we felt compelled to do something a little different. Instead of the typical, “hey we’re XX years old!” campaign, we’ve taken the opportunity to make a meaningful statement.

Our strategy for the past several years has been simple and consistent:  position against the big banks. This has seen numerous incarnations, most recently UN_BIG. The tag succinctly states what First Community Bank is, big enough to get the job done without sacrificing conveniences or customer service. Bank president Glen Davis has always said, “We’ve remained a successful bank by treating our customers like people instead of account numbers.”

What does being in business for 100 years mean? In a word, stability. And in banking, stability is king right now. So how do we make this statement within the overarching positioning strategy? Given many big banks are unstable (with some even failing), what else big has had trouble?

The biggest of the big failures had to have been the dinosaurs. So our metaphorical story line was cast. We’d explore the different theories explaining the extinction of the dinosaurs, illustrating that “being big leads to big problems.” Then we’d deliver our point, First Community is 100 years old and going strong. The anniversary is given meaning, and we continue to position against the big banks.

The budget was tight, so we had to get inventive on the television production. We partnered with our friends at Shiny Object in Austin, Texas–and then the fun began: table-top sets, toy dinosaurs and DIY props. Picture kids in a candy store.

The resulting spots are quite different for the category. Have a look.