Bank of America’s Quiet CEO to Star in Ad Campaign, Helped by Matt Damon

(Bloomberg) -- Brian Moynihan is a low-key guy. But this weekend, the chief executive officer of Bank of America Corp. will take the rare step of speaking into a microphone to almost 20 million people.

American football fans tuning in to watch the Minnesota Vikings battle the Chicago Bears on Sunday night will see the CEO straighten his tie and make his way to his New York office in a 60-second TV ad that concludes: “I am Brian Moynihan, and I work for Bank of America.”

It’s part of a new campaign that includes actor Matt Damon and fashion designer Tory Burch promoting their charity work with the bank on clean water and women’s entrepreneurship.

“He’s a quiet guy. This works pretty well with his personality,” Anne Finucane, the bank’s vice chairman, said in a phone interview. “It’s effective for the CEO to declare unequivocally that this is our commitment.”

Finucane leads the bank’s environmental, social and governance initiatives, which deployed more than $50 billion in capital last year, mostly related to lending. Recent efforts include a $2.25 billion green bond for environmentally friendly debt, and investments in community-development financial institutions and a social-impact fund.

The commercials highlighting such work will air during broadcasts of “This Is Us” and “The Voice,” which are watched by about 13 million and 11 million viewers, respectively, according to Nielsen ratings. They’ll also appear during “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Moynihan speaks about empowering customers in his ad. That contrasts with Wells Fargo & Co.’s “Re-Established” campaign, which rolled out earlier this year as the bank sought to reassure the public that it’s putting scandals in the past. Uber Technologies Inc. and Facebook Inc. also have unfurled commercials to rebuild consumer trust.

At Bank of America, “it’s very unusual to use the CEO in an ad,” Finucane said. “When you put yourself in an ad, you’re going to get some detractors. So the thing is, you better be pretty sure of the value proposition.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Lananh Nguyen in New York at lnguyen35@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, David Scheer, Steve Dickson

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