Brand Building by Investment Banks in 1999

GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP went public in May 1999 when it sold shares. It is going to go public again, this time with its first global advertising campaign.

Goldman's intent is to define itself as the blue-chip investment bank that listens -- and never gives the same advice twice to its corporate clients. All its advertising will carry the same tag line: ''Unrelenting Thinking.''

Goldman will spend about $10 million on the campaign this year, according to industry experts. The ads, designed by Ammirati Puris Lintas of New York, a unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies, will appear in publications like The Financial Times of London, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Business Week.

Merrill Lynch, one of the financial industry's heaviest marketers, introduced a campaign in March that plays down its historic symbol, the bull, in favor of the abstract theme, ''human achievement.'' Merrill plans to spend $75 million on that campaign alone.

Morgan Stanley now uses as its corporate slogan ''We measure success one investor at a time'' -- the ad line of the old Dean Witter, the retail brokerage firm it merged with in 1997. The firm's overall ad spending is estimated by industry experts at more than $200 million.





Reference:

THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Goldman Sachs tries something new: promoting itself to the public as a brand worth knowing.

JOSEPH KAHN
New York Times
Published: May 18, 1999