Echoes With the Sounds of Salesmen

The Award for Worst Radio Ad Campaign for the Summer of 2007 goes to Patriot Financial, a mortgage broker. Patriot "was formed in October 2001, shortly after the tragic events of 9/11. The spirit of America's patriotism was the inspiration and motivation for our company and our corporate name." Wow. I'm sold on them now. That's some serious integrity there. These three goateed gentlemen are Zach, Jason and Clinton, and they comprise the Executive Staff of Patriot Financial.

The spots in question utilize the fake conversation format, where two office mates are talking and one of them wants to "pick the brain" of the other about his recent refinance. He glowingly describes his great fortune in finding Patriot. His female coworker wonders if he has a phone number for Patriot. Why of course he does, and he even remembers it. She repeats it to him as a question. He confirms her question by repeating the number again. Then, a horrendous jingle comes on in which the phone number is repeated in song, with what sounds like a child's off-key xylophone accompanying the singers.

If you live in a state where Patriot is doing business, I'm sure you share my pain. I have no doubt they are doing this for a reason, and they can likely cite stats that show people came to them via their radio ads. That's wonderful. But it was hatred for radio like this that made me pursue a career in production and commercial writing. If anyone knows where I can find these ads online, I'd love to share them with readers of this blog, just so you can cringe in horror with me. I'm a sadist that way, I guess.