A Russian lender has created a great publicity stunt to convince people to get a mortgage with them by offering a free cat when you buy a mortgage product.
Everyone loves cats, the internet has enough videos to prove that, and so why not use them to advertise?
Reports say that the felines are delivered in time for the house warming party, and are there to be the first to cross the threshold. However, the owners can’t keep their feline friends.
In Russian culture, many people believe having a cat cross the threshold first is a sign of luck, and so Sberbank, one of Russia’s leading lenders, is offering a 2 hour cat-lend so that the new residents can have luck in their new homes.
Available for two hours, the cats are delivered in a van with an instantly recognisable logo on the side, spreading word of the bank.
It is a clever campaign, seeing as people will, assuming the campaign is going to be undertaken and is not just a publicity stunt, tell their friends and families, and spread the word.
The website even lets people choose between 10 breeds of cats to be the first to enter their new homes.
A campaign video has been released showing happy couples letting the cats enter their new homes before moving in themselves, as well as pictures of smiling delivery men and of cats making themselves comfortable on the desks and printers of mortgage advisors.