Here I am, starting a new week with a post on yet another Pakistani bank. Faysal Bank has recently released a campaign, based on the tagline ‘Bank on Ambition’. I first came across the campaign when I saw this print ad in the Express Tribune. The ad features a bunch of framed photographs on a wallpaper-pattern background, and doesn’t have any copy. As you can see below, There really isn’t a point to it and it is more or less impossible to make sense out of it. This ad suffers from the all too common syndrome afflicting Pakistani advertising wherein print ads are relegated to being just screenshots of the TVC, with no concept or direction of their own. Here, have a look. Pardon the horrible quality though!

That was the print ad. The TVC however, is a whole different story. It is brilliant. It manages to pull off humor in a way that only Indian ads do (and when tried by Pakistani ads, it is a joke unto themselves). It is well acted and employs actors, NOT pretty-face models. Directed by Jami of Azad Films, it is a job very well done. Don’t know the agency behind it yet. The agency is Adcom.

UPDATE: The concept is by a freelance artist named Saima Ghazanfar, Adcom was only involved in the print copy and media aspects of the campaign.