Fidelity Investments is readying a music-based cause-marketing program as part of its partnership with singer Paul McCartney.
Fidelity is sponsoring McCartney’s 11-week tour this fall, and McCartney appears in a TV spot that broke Sept. 8 as part of Fidelity’s “Smart Move” ad campaign.
But the collaboration goes deeper than a mere tour sponsorship.
“McCartney has been approaching us for a long time, but a tour-only deal was not enough for us,” said Fidelity Senior VP Kathleen Hall. “We didn’t want to be a tour sponsor; we wanted to be a legacy sponsor and own his life.”
Six to eight months of negotiation led to the deal that Boston-based Fidelity announced last week, with the ad, tour visibility (behind title sponsor Lexus) and a slate of promotions, including the cause-marketing work to be announced this fall.
The TV spots, titled “This is Paul,” profiles McCartney the same way earlier spots have profiled real Fidelity customers in the two-year-old ad campaign. McCartney’s music provides the backdrop. “They wanted us to use a song from his new CD Follow Me; we wanted to use ‘Band on the Run,'” Hall said. “Paul said ‘Use both.'” McCartney also recorded an internal voicemail that was delivered to Fidelity’s 42,000 staffers the morning of the announcement that he was partnering with Fidelity. “Girls were crying,” Hall said.
Fidelity will host a branded venue at tour stops, with listening stations and exhibits that play up the cause marketing effort. Meanwhile, a promotion running through November gives consumers a compilation CD of McCartney’s songs when they let Fidelity review their financial plan. Arnold Worldwide, Boston, negotiated the deal and handles advertising and all promotions.
