Yay! I saw the ads! I saw the ads! Finally figured out what was wrong with my kid's computer: the phone jack was not properly plugged in - geez, it's been weeks we can't log on from the pentium...
Anyway, I thought these were very funny when viewed on a tiny space on my computer. Over on Yahoo everyone's up in arms about the monkey ad, which I did not see. Obviously these are memorable, and the irreverence of the ads fits right in with the ETrade edgy-in-your-face-stand-on-the-chair philosophy.
These are attention getting ads, to be sure. Schwab picked the other route, the let's educate you even further route. They are educating you. A little patronistic. Everyone knows, for example, that Ringo is a pay-off. ETrade is much more Beatles anyway.
I sympathize with everyone who has a negative reaction, but the only thing ETrade did really was make us laugh by playing on our fears. I thought the window jumping ad was great. Laugh at the Great Depression. Laugh at the hyberbole of jumping out your window, in an era where a drop in the market is a buying op, or landing in your front lawn. The hospital ad, right to the core. Once you have money problems behind you, what's left? Mortality. It is a little bit funny, in a way, gulp,...and the whole issue of masculinity that soaks the world of investing and sports played against by the dancer ad. The world is ready to laugh at it's own uneasiness, more able to smile about different gender dimensions then it used to. This is amply reflected by the ETrade organization and it's main movers. The world of investing online is very different in ETrade's view. It's the rug being pulled out from under our feet, it's jocks who want to dance instead of play pro ball.
Everyone I talk to about investing online is scared of it. There's a big hangover, at least in Canada, from the era when you needed an expert to handle your money for you. Merril knows this and panders to the fear. "Let's us hold your hand." ETrade gets us to laugh at the fears. ETrade won't hold your hand the way Merril will, but they will encourage you to stand up on the chair, take a chance. They also are not pretending that the fear, the danger, the edginess is not there. Schwab aimed at the Beatles crowd, but missed the message. I mean seriously, what the hell has Ringo got to be scared of if he loses some money in the market?
I betcha they continue to sign up record numbers of accounts. What do they say in the monkey ad: "We wasted 2 million bucks, what are you doing with your money?" And the answer the brain remembers, because of the outlandish memory tag, well, the brain remembers "It's Time For Etrade."
As far as I can see, according to mnemonic theory, according to good advertising principles, they sure did the branding thing. Through humor, the next best memory tag to a shock, especially a violent one. After all, how much education, seriously, can you get across in a 30 second ad spot? Keeping my dollars in ETrade stock folks, still a long way to grow :) |
