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Financial ads' new clothes
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May 19, 1998: 3:49 p.m. ET
Formerly staid and respectable, finance ads are showing a different cut
From Correspondent Susan Lisovicz
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - According to traditional advertising wisdom, a successful campaign for a financial services company should lead potential customers to trust the firm with their most precious possession, their money. As such, ads should project an air of stability, service, rock-hard value, common sense.
However, increasing competition and a changing marketplace have forced the traditionally staid financial sector to exchange its practical gray suits for the bright colors and acid tones of fantasy and comedy.
Financial firms -- excluding banks -- more than doubled their spending on advertising in the last five years, with campaigns bringing in more than $1.7 billion in ad revenue last year alone. The main target, naturally, has been baby boomers.
"Baby boomers, while they're not great savers, have great incomes," explained David Kiley, advertising columnist at Brandweek. "Much better incomes then their parents had, but getting them to put that money into investments instead of spending it on stuff is a tough nut."
To crack the nut, ad campaigns take many approaches. Some, like Dean Witter's, follow the traditional approach, projecting an air of stability and no-nonsense practicality [31Kb WAV] [31Kb AIFF].
Fidelity has opted for cutting-edge, artistic television spots while Met Life aims to project a comforting, friendly image through its use of Snoopy characters. Meanwhile, American Express falls back on the old advertising standby of the big-name celebrity endorsement, featuring Tiger Woods heavily in a recent campaign.
One recent wave of ads from Alliance Capital makes use of grim humor to attract customers, and it seems to be working.
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Don't let this gentle face fool you. This parent has quite a message for her son.
FATHER: Your sister's getting everything.
SON: What?
MOTHER: You were a rotten kid. You drove your father crazy.
SON: But I'm counting on that money to retire!
FATHER: See? Still greedy!
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Considered a breakthrough by the advertising press, the following Alliance dialogue sells mutual funds through biting humor.
DAD: What grade you in now? Second? Third?
SON: Third.
DAD: That's plenty of school! Time you got a job!
The irreverent approach seems to be paying off. Since the first set of ads was launched in late 1996, Alliance's market share has surged, up 28 percent in 1997 and 40 percent so far this year.
"There is a certain shock value when you first see them, but I think now when people see Alliance they want to know what the punch line is," said Dottie Enrico, advertising reporter at USA Today.
Whether potential customers love or hate these financial ads, the new wave have achieved something previously thought difficult -- they've gotten people to start talking about the once-thought-dreary industry of making money. 
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