Financial Services - Advertisement Programs

New Evolution of Ameriprise Financial Advertising Emphasizes that "Dreams Don't Retire"
Broadcast ads feature actor Dennis Hopper and a 1960s-style red chair

MINNEAPOLIS — September 7, 2006 — Dreams don't retire. That's what Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) is telling over 78 million baby boomers in a new advertising campaign that launches this Sunday, Sept. 10, during the first regular season broadcast of NBC Sunday Night Football at 8 p.m. eastern. The broadcast ads will feature a celebrity familiar to the boomer generation, actor Dennis Hopper.

Developed in conjunction with Saatchi & Saatchi the broadcast ads will feature people pursuing their retirement dreams from building a boat to designing an eco-friendly house. Ads will appear on network and cable in popular programs such as "LOST," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Desperate Housewives," "CSI: Miami" and "Without a Trace." The integrated campaign will also feature print, radio and online ads.

"Last year's groundbreaking campaign launched the Ameriprise Financial brand and focused on what we do to help boomers achieve their retirement dreams," says Jim Cracchiolo, chairman and chief executive officer of Ameriprise Financial. "Now we're telling boomers how we're redefining financial planning. It all begins with understanding our clients' dreams."

The ads are set in a variety of locations including a beach, salt flats and field of wildflowers that convey the serenity many boomers hope to achieve in retirement. Sitting within these tranquil settings on a 1960s-style red chair is Hopper.

"Our new campaign is a radical departure from standard financial services advertising," says Kim Sharan, EVP and chief marketing and communications officer of Ameriprise Financial. "We are firmly focused on the positive aspects of retirement and our understanding that boomers aren't going to spend this phase of life playing shuffleboard. There is no better figure to personify our message than legendary actor Dennis Hopper who embodies the spirit of the generation. With his help we are speaking with boomers not at them."

In the broadcast ads, Hopper adopts a conversational style. In one version he asks: "You still have things to do, right? You have dreams. And there is no age limit on dreams." In another version he reminds boomers that "the thing about dreams is – they don't retire."

Print ads will portray "real" people in a way that captures their retirement dream – photography, hiking and yoga to name a few – posing with a red chair. This red chair, used in both broadcast and print ads, symbolizes the launching pad for boomers' retirement dreams – it is an "anti-rocking chair."

The campaign introduces a financial planning process unique to Ameriprise Financial – Dream > Plan > Track®. Says Sharan, "It starts with a dream, results in a plan, and through the implementation of a financial plan enables the personal advisors of Ameriprise Financial to help clients stay on track to achieve the financial freedom they desire."

Integral to both the advertising campaign and the Ameriprise Financial Dream > Plan > Track approach to financial planning is the company's popular Dream Book® guide. This guide was developed in response to findings of the Ameriprise Financial New Retirement MindscapeSM study conducted in August 2005 by Harris Interactive in cooperation with Ken Dychtwald, a leading authority on baby boomers. Results show that people want to engage with their financial advisor on a deeper more emotional level. A key finding in the study was that people want a financial advisor who understands them. This was rated just as important as return on investment.

"The Dream Book guide has been wildly successful," says Sharan. "Boomers want a financial advisor that first understands their dreams and then helps them realize those dreams. At Ameriprise Financial, we want to be recognized as the financial services company that looks beyond the numbers to understand our clients and the simple fact that dreams don't retire."

About the campaign

This is an evolution of the advertising campaign that Ameriprise Financial launched in September 2005 as an independent, publicly-owned company following the spin off from American Express Company, the sixth largest spin off in corporate history. The first phase of the campaign not only launched a new brand but also helped transform financial services advertising with a focus on the positive rather than a message of fear. As a result of this influential campaign, Ameriprise Financial achieved over 40 percent brand awareness in just eight months.

About Ameriprise Financial

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is a leading financial planning and services company with more than 12,300 financial advisors and registered representatives that provides solutions for clients' asset accumulation, income management and insurance protection needs. The company's financial advisors deliver tailored solutions to clients through a comprehensive and personalized financial planning approach built on a long-term relationship with a knowledgeable advisor. The company specializes in meeting the retirement-related financial needs of the mass affluent. Financial planning services and investments offered through Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., Member NASD and SIPC. For more information, visit ameriprise.com.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Ann Wasik at (612) 678-1592 or ann.m.wasik@ampf.com.

[http://www.ameriprise.com/amp/global/press-center/press-release-80.asp]

Posted 11/13/2005 10:47 PM Updated 11/13/2005 11:11 PM





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HOW THE ADS RATE
Ad Track: A weekly look at how much consumers like a major advertising campaign compared with other ads rated by this poll — and how effective they think the ads are in helping to sell the product.
Today's ads: Chase
Like the ads a lot
All respondents 14%
Ad Track survey average 21%
Among key target groups
Male respondents 8%
Female respondents 18%
Dislike the ads
All respondents 6%

Ad Track survey average 13%
Think they are very effective
All respondents 11%
Ad Track survey average 21%

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Based on a nationwide poll of 647 adults who had seen the ads. Poll conducted Sept. 6-12; margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Overall average based on 483 ads. To subscribe to Harris Ad Research Service, contact David Krane of Harris Interactive at 212-539-9648 or at dkrane@harrisinteractive.com.
Click here for previous Ad Tracks.










Related Advertising Links What's This?





Financial-services ads on the rise
By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Financial services is on the fast track to become the top ad-spending category.
Spending had been rising for several years when the category cracked the top five in 2002, with a 2% rise over 2001 to $5.9 billion, according to ad tracker TNS Media Intelligence. Then spending really took off, jumping 12% in 2003 to $6.7 billion and 16% in 2004 to $7.8 billion. For the first half of this year, the category ranks third — behind domestic and foreign auto brands — at $3.8 billion, up 7.2%.

Driving the blitz:

• Competition to sell investment and retirement-planning services to aging baby boomers. "This spending increase is not at all surprising. The issue of retirement is looming in major proportions as the first of the baby boomers turn 60," says Gary Soldow, professor of marketing at Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business in New York.

• It takes more money to get attention. Consumers see four times more advertising than 10 years ago, says Thomas Cline, professor of marketing at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. Financial-services marketers "are saying we're going to spend what everyone else spends because there is so much clutter out there. Advertisers almost feel like they are in an arms race to keep pace."

• Consolidation in financial services. There are more national brands with bigger budgets.

One such brand is Chase, which merged with Bank One last year and is slugging it out with ad heavyweights such as Citi, Bank of America and Washington Mutual.

"After the merger between Chase and Bank One, we wanted to relaunch the Chase brand and reposition ourselves in the mind of the consumer in a new way," says Carter Franke, chief marketing officer of Chase Card Services.

The ads try to show how Chase focuses on "making sure that we are able to meet consumer needs by doing the little things a little better and the big things right."

TV ads for Chase services use the theme "Your Choice. Your Chase."

One ad highlights checking and credit cards as a father helps plan his daughter's wedding. The song Wind Beneath My Wings plays as he recalls his little girl growing up.

A second ad promotes affinity credit cards appropriate for successive life stages as Five for Fighting's 100 Years plays. The ad opens as a college graduate receives his diploma, then begins a career, dates, marries, honeymoons and has a family.

In a third ad, a young woman opens a Chase checking account with her first paycheck. In the ad, she buys a puppy, pays bills online and gets account updates on her cellphone.

Despite a big ad buy and emotional tone, it continues to be hard for ads in this category to resonate with consumers, according to Ad Track, USA TODAY's weekly poll. Of those surveyed, 14% like the ads a lot compared with the Ad Track average of 21%. Just 11% consider them "very effective" vs. the average of 21%.

Franke says the ads are working well and will continue to run through next year with the same message on individual services.

"There are lot of competing messages in the market," she says. "It's very important that we have a clear message, and we will continue to reinforce the key messages."

That's sound strategy, according to Saint Vincent's Cline: "Money is money, whether its Charles Schwab or Merrill Lynch. There aren't any distinctive attributes for these companies. What tips the balance is brand awareness."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2005-11-13-chase_x.htm


Database of slogans. Mortgage.

United Financial Mortgage Corporation, USA
Advertising slogan: Leading America Home.

East West Mortgage Company, United States
Motto: East/West Mortgage. "We put people into homes!"

American Federal Mortgage
Advertising slogan: Making the American Dream Come True.

Baron Mortgage Corporation, United States
Ad slogan: Baron Mortgage Corp. Your Lender for Life.

First Eastern Mortgage Corp., a subsdary of First Federal Savings Bank of Boston
Slogan: We Bring New England Home.
Note: First Eastern Mortgage Corp. - leading lender in new England

Lake Mortgage Company, Northwest Indiana
Motto: Bringing People and Homes Together for Over 50 Years.

First Mortgage, independent mortgage broker, North Carolina
Advertising slogan: 1st Mortgage. "When Service Matters".

WaMu - Washington Mutual Home Loans
Marketing slogan: Washington Mutual. The Power of Yes.

ABSA bank / home loans, mortgages, South Africa
Advertising slogan: ABSA. Your 1st choice in home loans.

Bank Of Ireland / mortgage
Tagline: We won't make a mountain out of your mortgage.

Ameriquest Mortgage Company, home mortgage refinance
Tagline: Don’t Judge Too Quickly. We Won’t.

Hope Funding Group, mortgage broker
Advertising slogan: Mortgages Made Easy!

http://www.textart.ru/database/english-advertising-slogans/mortgage-advertising-slogans.html

Online Advertising: The Bread and Butter of Personal Finance

Online advertising spending is expected to be $19.2 billion in 2007, and eMarketer expects the financial services sector to increase its online ad spending by 33.3% in 2007 to $2.4 billion and reach $3.52 billion by 2010. This makes the sector one of the largest advertisers online, and thus validates the compelling case for online offerings in the Financial Services space. Over the last few weeks, we have analyzed the Personal Finance segment based on the Web 3.0 framework.

Yahoo (YHOO) recently launched its new personal finance site to provide the best of financial information and tools for managing one’s finances. The addition of personal finance to Yahoo Finance’s portfolio of services will aid the company to increase audience, improve consumer engagement, expand advertising inventory in one of the largest advertising categories.

We have reviewed Yahoo, MSN (MSFT), Marketwatch, AOL (TWX) and CNNMoney’s Personal Finance offerings in detail. CNNMoney’s display ad rates are $92 - $143 per thousand impressions [CPM], which is extremely high by any standard and is a testimony both to how valuable the offering is to its users, and how precious the audience is to the advertisers. All the other big players in the category sport similarly high CPM. My guess is, given that the inventory is still limited, these rates would go up quite substantially over the next few years, and more players will (and should) enter the segment.

Seeking Alpha, a blog on stock research providing opinion and analysis on the stock market, individual stocks and portfolio management tips, has garnered a tremendous fan following in the past one year. One of the ways for a new player to enter the Personal Financial Services category is by leveraging the Seeking Alpha offering. The company’s business model supports licensing to other players, and can easily get an otherwise large player like The New York Times (NYT) into the game.

In terms of their offerings, the content on these sites (Yahoo, MSN, CNN, AOL, Seeking Alpha and Marketwatch) is what sets them apart. Most of these sites have organized the content under different categories and sub-categories like Personal Finance, Investments, Retirement, Tax, Insurance, etc for providing contextual information and easy navigation. These sites also provide useful financial tools and calculators.

Apart from their own sources, most of these sites source content from experts, professionals, other sites, magazines and newspapers to maintain a continuous flow of high quality content and have an in-depth coverage of all the topics. The sites have also done a very good job on presentation of the information.

The sites have made some progress on the commerce front. Yahoo! Finance provides Yahoo! Real-Time Package on a subscription basis and Yahoo! Finance Research Reports on pay per download basis. CNNMoney permits electronic reprints or custom reprints of content from its site for a fee. MSN Money, through its software “Microsoft Money”, allows users to manage their Personal Finance. Marketwatch provides subscription based products relate to investments.

Yahoo and MSN also provide bill payment services for nominal charges, while AOL offers the same for free. The sites however can explore additional commerce opportunities like tax filing for a certain fee, paid advice / customized financial planning services, transactional brokerage services, as well as Cost-Per-Action [CPA] lead generation for their advertisers.

Yahoo and MSN have reasonable community features but most of the sites have plenty of scope for improvement.

Sites like Yahoo, MSN, Marketwatch, etc provide very good vertical search (stock screener) and elementary personalization (portfolio tracking) facilities. It is important that other sites also incorporate these features, as these are value added service that increase the time spent by consumers on the site.

Conclusion

Advertising, needless to say, is the main source of revenue for these sites. Over time, each site would do well to evaluate itself against the Web 3.0 framework, and improve their grades in each of the 6 aspects : Context, Content, Community, Commerce, Vertical Search, and Personalization. And those large media companies who are not playing in the Personal Finance / Financial Services category would do well to license Seeking Alpha and get into the game.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/31446-online-advertising-the-bread-and-butter-of-personal-finance
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Online Advertising Spending for Financial Services Companies
By Jim Bruene on May 17, 2006 6:23 PM

American Banker released figures for 2005 online advertising expenses for financial services companies. Among banks, Bank of America was first with $20 million spent online in 2005, no surprise there. Five others spent $10 million or more including two direct banking efforts, ING Direct and Emigrant Direct, which spent 96% of its media budget online

for more detail visit

http://www.netbanker.com/2006/05/online-advertising-spending-financial-services.html
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