'I wouldn't have made that IVF ad': bank chief

ASB Bank chief executive Barbara Chapman Photo / supplied

ASB's new CEO and former marketing head Barbara Chapman says she wouldn't have chosen to run the bank's controversial In-Vitro Fertilisation ( IVF) advertisement.

The advert, part of the bank's Creating Futures marketing campaign that replaced the long running Ira Goldstein adverts last November, offering loans for fertility treatment, came under fire from people who had used IVF treatment to help them conceive babies and led to 39 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, which ultimately weren't upheld.

During her previous tenure at ASB, before taking the reins as Sovereign Insurance CEO and then shifting to executive roles at ASB's parent Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Chapman - as ASB's marketing chief - oversaw the introduction of the highly successful Goldstein campaign that ran for 11 years.

Speaking in an interview with interest.co.nz Chapman, who took over as ASB CEO and managing director on April 26, said during her first few weeks in the role she was looking at a number of initiatives the bank had in place, including its marketing campaign.

"I'm interested in how the campaign is tracking so the team have been giving me data," Chapman said. "I think areas of it have proved to be good and there are some things, to be honest, I wouldn't have done."

"For example, I personally wouldn't have done that IVF ad. I think that's a territory that it's difficult for a bank to move into. It's obviously a very personal area for people. So that's just something I wouldn't have done," said Chapman.

"But having said that, overall I think overall the campaign is tracking pretty well."

ASB says the screening period for the IVF advert ended in February when the next advertisement in the series began, as per the planned screening schedule. There are no plans to bring it back.

- INTEREST.CO.NZ