OCBC Bank is spending $5 million on a new advertising campaign to attract more customers.

The first part of the campaign, which started last Tuesday with TV ads, will last till mid-November; the second will begin next year. It aims to get ordinary people 'excited' about the bank and "get them to talk to us", said Koh Ching Ching, head of corporate communications.

Teng Soon Lang (main head picture), executive vice-president in charge of quality and service at the bank, said the campaign would involve some 8,000 staff across all of OCBC's branches in Singapore and Malaysia. The bank has 60 branches here and 29 in Malaysia. In July, OCBC said it would spend some $150 million renovating its entire branch network in Singapore and Malaysia to attract new customers. So far, it has completed upgrading three of its branches here.

Last week, the bank received a fillip when The Asian Banker, publisher of the Asian Banker Journal, rated it the third strongest bank in Asia Pacific, ahead of its two local rivals.