For some reason, financial services companies in the US — other than Capital One Financial Corp. — don’t have a sense of humor. Considering the new Bank of America Corp. TV ads that have started appearing over the last few days. They are all tug-at-the-heartstrings with not a drop of humor to be found.

Well, it’s different in Europe, where financial services companies’ advertising is alight with fun. Take Barclaycard, the credit card company. Last fall it introduced an ad in which an actor “waterslides” home for its contactless technology. The ad showcases how the card can be used to buy, say, a banana as the cardholder waterslides through a supermarket. It’s a delightful ad, so much so that Barclaycard then added a “making of” video on YouTube in addition to the actual ad. (We’ve added all these videos to BankInnovation.net.)

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These efforts, in turn, have kicked off a viral marketing craze. Barclaycard created a competition. The maker of the best spoof video of a waterslide using a Barclaycard wins a “waterslide world tour.” Submissions are due March 22; votes can be cast on YouTube starting March 23. There are already several dozen spoof videos up on YouTube, and some are great, such as this one. There’s also a — get this — make-a-waterslide online game. Not surprisingly, the waterslide is a central part of Barclaycard’s marketing for the contactless technology.

Barclaycard is even kicking it up beyond just this waterslide theme. Barclaycard says it will use its Barclaycardcreate site on YouTube to take the idea of fun, viral marketing further: “The Barclaycard waterslide competition is just the beginning – we’ll be updating the Barclaycardcreate channel regularly with lots of stuff we hope you’ll find entertaining.”

Besides being greatly entertaining, the actual Barclaycard ad and all its derivative videos have been viewed about 1.2 million times on YouTube, by my count. And that is before the voting on the best spoof ads for the competition. This is viral marketing at its best, and it blows away all marketing efforts currently underway by any financial services company in the US.

That’s how Barclaycard can wear a bathing suit, without getting all wet.