Halifax to ditch Howard as adverts sober up

by Gill Montia

Story link: Halifax to ditch Howard as adverts sober up

Halifax is looking to project a new image in its advertisements, one that is more in keeping with the credit crisis.

The lender has become synonymous with its singing and dancing employee, Howard Brown, who took the leading role in the bank’s “staff as stars” campaign when it was launched eight years ago.

The account is handled by advertising agency, DLKW, which hails the “staff as stars” campaign as a resounding success.

However, the credit crisis is now dictating a change and the bespectacled Mr Brown, who has even appeared in computer generated form in Halifax advertisements, may return to his desk or pursue a career in the media.

He has already made a cameo performance in the BBC 2 series, “The Office”.

Mr Brown will perhaps be best remembered for his reworked version of Tom Jones’ “Sex Bomb”.

He also turned in a reasonable version of “Singing in the Rain”, the song and dance routine immortalised by Gene Kelly.