2007 Bronze Effie Winner. Talk to Chuck

Transcription

1 2007 Bronze Effie Winner Talk to Chuck Category: Financial Services Lead Agency: Euro RSCG Worldwide/NY Media Agency: PHD Client: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Strategic Challenge REIGNITING A GREAT AMERICAN BRAND AND RECONNECTING WITH JADED INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS The Charles Schwab Company was the first challenger brand in the U.S. brokerage industry. Schwab democratized the category and secured its reputation as the advocate for the individual investor, a position they held for nearly two decades. Then came online trading in the early 90s, and start-ups like E*Trade and Ameritrade significantly undercut Schwab s pricing, grabbing the industry challenger role that had been Schwab s. The online discounters and even mutual fund companies and banks had all encroached on Schwab s defining brand equities as a pioneer in the world of investing and as an advocate for the individual investor. The result was a murky category, with no distinct voice and no distinguishable leader a role Schwab had played for years. With its differentiation in decline, the brand had lost the sense of momentum it once had with the mass affluent investor. The brand needed to be reinvigorated to recapture its distinction with investors with a renewed feeling of momentum and purpose and do it fast. Our strategic challenge was to reconnect with Self-directed and Unsure investors by demonstrating that we understood their unique issues and concerns, and again position Charles Schwab as an approachable and understanding place where investors can get the respect they deserve.

2 This would be proved by: - A tangible lift in New-To-Firm assets - A tangible lift in key metrics of Consideration and Momentum The Big Idea CHANGE THE CONVERSATION - INVESTORS WANT TO BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION, REAL TALK ABOUT REAL ISSUES WITH SOMEONE THAT UNDERSTOOD THEIR NEEDS. SO WE INVITED THEM TO TALK TO CHUCK. Mass affluent Americans saw themselves not as wealthy, privileged individuals but as just regular people who ve done well. Investors saw an industry that was out of touch with how they saw themselves; which made broad, sweeping promises of reassurance they could not necessarily be trusted to keep; and who spoke to them more as a demographic and less as real people. We felt there were three critical strategic imperatives that had to be fulfilled by the idea we would develop for Schwab: - Challenge the category and its conventions truly differentiate by creating a direct, relevant, and ongoing conversation with investors - Don t re-create the wheel Leverage existing Schwab equities rather than create new ones. - Make the brand relevant again connect with our investors in very real ways that showed we understood their very real issues and concerns. - Create a very real call-to-action - our idea must have a sense of urgency and drive immediate response. Our idea grew out of a simple observation about the brand. One of the brand s most distinguishing assets was Charles Schwab himself a familiar figure to investors from some of Schwab s previous campaigns. But even more important, was the way in which his beliefs, values, and integrity the personal sense of responsibility toward clients had inspired and were inculcated in all the employees we encountered. They spoke about him and referred to him with an ease and familiarity that was striking Chuck always says One of the things Chuck believes Chuck would never. We always ask ourselves, what would Chuck do? Clearly, when investors engaged with anyone at the Charles Schwab company, they would be speaking with someone who represented Chuck himself and everything he stands for; they would be using a resource designed with same integrity it would almost be as if you were simply talking to Chuck. So the phrase Talk to Chuck, encased in the simple graphic device of a talk bubble became the creative platform for the campaign. It communicated a company that was comfortable to talk to, approachable and on your level, and the go-to source for whatever you needed. At the same time it was a simple and memorable call to action, and its tone and manner were iconoclastic in the category.

3 Bringing the Idea to Life PUT THE REAL INVESTOR FRONT AND CENTER USE REAL PAIN POINTS, REAL ISSUES NOT CONVENTIONAL IMAGES OF WEALTH AND INVESTING. The messaging for the campaign was hammered out in dozens of interviews with mass-affluent investors, so that Schwab spoke authentically from the investor s point of view. The investor issue was always presented front and center, and answered directly with Talk To Chuck both as an invitation to a conversation and a strong call to action. Unlike the rest of the category - which was using tired visual clichés of wealth and retirement - our creative approach dramatically stood out by presenting the investors issue, in the investor s language as the centerpiece. In television, we used a novel technique called Rotoscoping animating over filmed subjects so that the people featured in the spots became Everymen for investor s issues with the brokerage industry. It allowed the emphasis to be on the real investor issue. The technique had never been used in commercial advertising and gave Talk To Chuck a unique and differentiating look and voice. The media strategy for Talk to Chuck was designed to facilitate thousands of simultaneous conversations between investors and Schwab in television, print, online, radio and out-of-home media. This rich media mix was both pervasive in its impact and highly targeted to investors through careful selection of media properties and geo-demographic targeting. Schwab s media strategy broke category conventions with non-traditional radio buys; extensive use of out-of-home media (including coffee cup wraps, newspaper polybags, bus shelters, taxi tops, rail boards, projection media, and highway boards) and breakthrough online media buys (including inbanner streaming audio from Schwab market experts and video segments featuring Chuck himself, real-time Schwab Equity Ratings in finance editorial, and interactive impact units). Local television, print, sports sponsorships, community events and neighborhood branch seminars helped round out the strategy and deepened Schwab s connection and relevance within the local markets. We put it in unexpected places that were part of the rituals of our targets lifestyles acknowledging that for mass affluent investors beginning to look at the horizon of the second half of their lives, investing was an essential part of their everyday life. Results (A) New-to-Firm Assets skyrocketed 36% after the campaign started. Given a base in the billions of dollars, this incremental increase represents more revenue than many Schwab competitors pull in all year. -- (SOURCE: Charles Schwab, 09/06)

4 (B) All key consideration, momentum, differentiation, and critically - relevancy metrics had double-digit index point moves. The moves represent the first positive momentum Schwab has had in over 5 years. Schwab now leads the entire financial category in Really Listens the critical metric demonstrating Schwab s renewed relevancy among the Mass Affluent Investor. -- (SOURCE: Charles Schwab, 09/06)

5 Other Marketplace Factors Chuck Schwab returned to the CEO post of Schwab in December of Additionally, Schwab made a round of price cuts to be more competitive in the marketplace in the summer of And lastly, an improved market outlook helped in That said, Schwab gained ground against its key competitors in almost all of its success measures, and the campaign was generally acknowledged in the financial and business press as a primary driver of the turnaround at Schwab. Budget: $20 million and over Campaign Reach: National Media Channels: TV, Radio, Newspaper, Consumer Magazine, P-O-P, OOH, Interactive/Online