Merrill Lynch - Intelligent company with Intellectual capabilities.

In 1996, Merrill Lynch & Company spent $300,000 on an advertising campaign to publicize the new celebration of the Codex, the scientific manuscript Leonardo da Vinci bequeathed to the world, at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.


October 1996


Merrill Lynch & Company is spending $300,000 on an advertising campaign to publicize the new celebration of the Codex at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. The exhibition opened in October and will end Jan. 1.

The Codex show is the first scientific presentation Merrill has ever sponsored.

Paul W. Critchlow, a senior vice president at Merrill Lynch said. ''We want everyone to know that we're an intelligent company with intellectual capabilities. The Leonardo show exhibits the work of a Renaissance genius who understood forces that were shaping the world. And we feel that we do exactly that for our clients.''
'Now we want to be regarded not as the thundering herd but as a sophisticated adviser,'' Mr. Critchlow said.


There are actually two campaigns one by Merrill and one by the museum. The first, mounted by the brokerage firm, was produced in association with Bozell Worldwide, a unit of Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt, and is an extension of Merrill Lynch's national corporate campaign. The targets include New York-area print outlets like New York magazine, as well as national publications.

Merrill Lynch is also advertising internationally in magazines like The Economist, hoping to attract tourists to the only scheduled public showing of the Codex Leicester in the United States.

Merrill Lynch is also helping to pay for a 30-second television spot celebrating the exhibition. (''Stand in the presence of genius,'' the voice-over says.) The television campaign will run until Nov. 13.

The Leonardo show will also be promoted in Merrill Lynch's mailings to retail clients, who will be able to use their Visa cards to receive discounts on the museum's Leonardo merchandise. Gift shop items include everything from scientific toys and a CD-ROM presentation of the Codex Leicester to pop-up Leonardo books, Codex scarves, Codex ties and, yes, a Codex mouse pad.


An interesting thing is that there could be some irony in associating Merrill Lynch's newly intellectual corporate image with Leonardo. The Codex demonstrates that, despite his acknowledged genius, the master was often wrong. But Mr. Critchlow of Merrill Lynch, rationalized by saying ''The point is that Leonardo sought to understand the way things work,and it is much better to make that effort than not to.''

New York Times
October 31, 1996