Horse 1106 - Barbara Lives In "Bankworld", Long Live Barbara

I've just seen the "Barbara lives in Bank World" whilst waiting in the queue at an ANZ bank. The funny think is that although Barbara has a gruff exterior, I actually think that I would prefer to do my banking business at A Bank, than the ANZ.

A Bank in these ads os portrayed as an unfriendly institution, however we don't ask our banks to be friendly institutions. What we expect from banks is that they'll either give us ample returns for investing our money them and/or won't charge us high fees for the so called privilege for leaving our money with them (which as I see it is basically the same as rent).

In fact in the past, bank themselves would erect massive facades on the branches of their rural branches to show that they were solid and dependable. If anything, the series of ads with Barbara working for A Bank, shows that A Bank is a serious banking firm. As a prospective investor, I might like to consider placing my funds with A Bank.

Thinking about this further, the same sort of image is projected in the Disney CG movie, Cars. One of the characters, Chick Hicks, is sponsored by a ficitious banking firm called Hostile Takeover Bank or HTB for short.

The thing is that I would also consider putting my funds with Hostile Takeover Bank for the simple reason that if they're the ones going around making all of these hostile takeovers then at least in the short run, they sound like a highly profitable firm.

Equally back in 2001 and 2002, the online bank Egg (website http://www.egg.co.uk) was the main sponsor of the Egg Sport Astra team in the British Touring Car Championship. Back then as now I still think that those Egg Astras had some of the coolest liveries ever to appear on a race car.

So what does all of this have to do with Barbara who according to the ANZ lives in "Bankworld" and not ours? Logically if Barbara does live in "Bankworld" then more than likely, she's probably a specialist who knows what they are doing, and can do an efficient and worthy job. Ironically whilst I was waiting in the queue in the ANZ, the branch I was in was understaffed, and the staff who were there seemed to go away and ask their supervisors, lords and masters, about what they should do. The thing is that I don't think that Barbara who lives in "Bankworld" would need to - she'd already know what to do.