GM noticed a new ad on TV the other day for Capital One, whose purchase of Chevy Chase Bank was finalized this summer. It featured one of those vikings standing in front of the bank’s branch at Q and Wisconsin (it’s not clear if it’s green screened or not, but GM would guess it wasn’t).
Of course this isn’t the first time Capital One/Chevy Chase Bank featured Georgetown, as you may remember those goofy Ben Franklin ads (shot from the roof of Mie N Yu):
The irony being that the Ben Franklin ads really emphasized the benefit of banking with a local bank. Oddly enough, Capital One isn’t really pushing that idea any more…
So, if you were a Chevy Chase Bank customer, did you stick with Capital One? And does anyone remember why Capital One has the whole viking theme in the first place?
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
As a former Chevy Chase Bank customer who is now a “What’s in your wallet?” customer, I REALLY hate these commercials.
The Vikings were in Georgetown during the summer. My friend got a picture with one of them.
The Vikings originally represented the dangers of *other* credit card companies. They were attacking the people in the commercials who were about to use their credit cards, representing terrible interest rates about to crash down on them. Then the card is revealed to be Capital One, and the vikings go away. Right? At least that’s how I remember it.
Weird that they are now the spokesmen….
Ah yes, I remember that now. I guess it’s no more silly than having Ben Franklin be a spokesmen for a DC bank (wouldn’t Washington be better since he was actually from the area? Or was Chevy Chase going after the whole penny saved is a penny earned thing?)