The ephemeral world of professional sports gave Coastal Banc execs a hard call last week.
Though NBA forward Scottie Pippin was no longer a Houston Rocket, his commercial pitch for Coastal’s business banking unit was scheduled to run on television until last Wednesday.
Despite Pippin’s departure to the Portland Trailblazers after a bitter tirade against fellow team members, Coastal Chairman Manny Mehos decided to go ahead with the TV spots. The ironic result — an ex-Rocket was pitching the bank’s X-Banking business product.
“We figured it would be humorous and keep our name out there,” says Mehos. “It also wasn’t worth losing money over.”
Indeed, Mehos says Coastal didn’t have a replacement for the paid-for spot, which featured No. 33 Pippin in basketball attire driving to the basket. “To us it communicated action, which is what we wanted to emphasize.”
Pippin’s trade immediately nullified his contract with Coastal, though he’s still featured on the bank’s Web site. But while Pippin may be persona non grata at Compaq Center after publicly dissing fellow forward Charles Barkley, Mehos has only kind words for the 6’7″ Trailblazer.
“It was a very amicable parting for us — more so than for the Rockets,” says Mehos. “Scottie’s a good guy. He worked hard for us. Everything we asked him to do, he did cheerfully.”
And the experience hasn’t soured Mehos on sports personality promotion, which he calls “the wave of the future” for banks.
“It grabs attention,” he says. “We’ll do it again.”
— Kenneth R. Pybus
Originally appeared in Houston Business Journal, October 17, 1999