The ‘Capital one bank guy’ - A random casting decision or a marketing strategy?

Ever since I came to the United States, which was roughly 8 months ago, I have come across a lot, and I mean a lot of advertisements featuring the ‘Capital One bank guy’, a mascot and ambassador of the capital one bank. The advertisements present him as a funny, happy, ‘man of the people’, whose primary focus is on one specific message - ‘No fees and minimums on checking accounts’. As I watched one such advertisement, I focused on the product, messaging and target audience of the advertisement like a classic marketing enthusiast. One thing that stood out for me though was the casting decision of the capital one bank guy. It wasn’t Chris Hemsworth, Glen Powell or Ben Affleck. The actor playing the Capital One bank guy is Jeremy Brandt, a 53 year old actor whose career has been built not on blockbuster rom-coms or superhero movies but on narrating Nat Geo shows and majorly, the capital one contract. Jeremy Brandt has around 23,000 followers on Instagram after being aired a staggering 135,000 times on TV in the last 30 days. That’s a lower follower count than a NYU sophomore who makes 4 videos a month. The other interesting part being that Jeremy Brandt, although good looking, does not match up to the conventional beauty standards of Hollywood stars, high paying models or actors that possess that amount of TV time. One may ask - “Wouldn’t casting Chris Hemsworth give them more attentive eyeballs, greater reach and more business?” Let’s decode whether the marketing team of Capital one decided to follow a strict budget or made a tactical decision in casting Jeremy Brandt?

In my opinion, though the budget may have been a critical factor, it is definitely not the only factor as instead of casting Chris Hemsworth and giving him limited screen time, which would cost a lot, Capital one pays Jeremy Brandt less and gives him an insane amount of screen time which would again, cost a lot! The casting of Jeremy Brandt thus can be viewed from 2 different solution points - Consumer Demographic and Brand Reach.

You see, Capital One is a bank whose consumer demographic is highly skewed towards an older, ageing age group. 41% of their customers are between the ages 45-64 and another 32% are above the age of 64. That’s a grand total of 73% of consumers above the age of 45. The average age of the average consumer would be roughly between 52-55 and though these are surprising numbers, they give us an idea as to why Capital One decided to go with a 53 year old Jeremy Brandt as their mascot. Not only will someone like a Glen Powell empty their purse but it wouldn’t create much of a difference too, because the age group that Capital One focuses on really doesn’t know a lot or care about the newer generation of stars. Casting Jeremy Brandt on the other hand helps a 55 year old suburban dad relate more to the Capital One bank guy as he doesn’t have smooth, long hair and 6 pack abs but looks just like him, regular, simple and relatable. Something that makes their message delivery extremely efficient for their target demographic. The next factor that they considered is cost - As the Capital One spokesperson, Jeremy Brandt is paid a flat amount $500,000 a year, which could easily be 2x-10x this cost had they gone with an established actor. Capital One uses the saved money to air him on TV a mammoth number of times, to a point where I now know his face, his message and the structure of all his ads!

I absolutely love this casting decision by Capital One, the question still begs though, was it a tactical one by Capital One or did they hold an audition and just go with best actor. Great marketing anyway, but I am still sticking with my Chase account.