January 2000
Merrill Lynch & Co., as it starts online trading service , is trying to change its image.
The largest brokerage firm in the US will phase in a new series of television spots featuring real-life clients talking about how they have prospered financially because of their relationship with their Merrill broker. Another set of ads will promote the firm's corporate icon, the Merrill Lynch bull - the first time Merrill has featured its corporate symbol in almost a decade - only with a more modern, digital twist.
Merrill was the first of the big brokerage firms to react to the growing threat of online trading with its own low-cost offering, including $29.95 computerised stock trades.
Merrill had to re-evaluate its "Human Achievement" ads that it had run so far. The humna achievement ad had celebrated humans over computers in a not-so-subtle dig at online investing.
In the fall, Merrill replaced the Human Achievement campaign with ads that sought to integrate Merrill's bread-and-butter full-service brokerage business with its online stock-trading service. The new ads weren't universally applauded inside Merrill and are now being ditched, as company executives continue to refine the firm's image as a full-service brokerage firm offering discount trading over the Internet.
Ad experts say that Merrill Lynch is struggling with the difficulties faced by traditional brokerage firms as they begin offering do-it-yourself online investing and try to convince potential clients they can compete with more established online players such as Charles Schwab Corp., of San Francisco, and E Trade Group Inc., of Menlo Park, California.
Merrill, for its part, spent a record $130 million on ads during 1999 - almost twice as much as originally envisioned and 85 per cent more than the year before -as part of its image makeover.
Many analysts believe ads will become even more important this year, as Wall Street players jostle for position in the rapidly changing brokerage business. Merrill expects to spend $150 million in ads this year as it looks to reinforce an image of a tech-savvy company.
The new campaign was designed by WPP Group PLC's J. Walter Thompson agency.
According to James Gorman, Merrill's marketing chief, the spot on the Merrill bull underscores "the durability and power" of the Merrill brand, with a modern twist.
In the ad, Merrill "scientists" hijack a giant bronze bull statue from the firm's staid corporate headquarters and replace it with a jazzy, new digital bull ready to take on competitors as well as internal forces opposed to the electronic-commerce revolution. The client-testimonial ads show a diverse cross section of Merrill customers - artists, musicians and a former basketball player - both at work and at home, thanking their brokers for helping them reach their goals. "The heart of the brand is the client," Gorman explains.
Executives at Merrill say their strategy was to introduce new ads throughout the year, ditching the fall campaign around the first of this year for a new set of television spots.
The ads are being criticized by some. Many people inside the firm - particularly those in the firm's brokerage ranks - thought the fall spots actually demanded typical Merrill customers, showing them in various states of incomprehension and distress when discussing the firm's new menu of offerings. In one segment, Nelson, a brokerage customer, needs repeated reassurance that he will be able to speak with his broker even as the firm begins online trading. In another, several investors appeared befuddled by the mechanics of Merrill's fee-based accounts, which charge investors one fee for unlimited trading and advice.
Gorman says he has heard the criticism but insists the fall ads were a big success. Surveys, he says, showed that the commercials put Merrill on the map as far as online trading is concerned. Some Merrill officials say most brokers loved the spots because they emphasised the need for a financial adviser, even in the age of do-it-yourself investing. "There are lots of points of view about these ads, but they were memorable and they resonated," Gorman says.
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