When Bank of America completed its $3.3 billion purchase of U.S. Trust from Charles Schwab in July, the Charlotte, NC, behemoth set its sights clearly on widening its sphere of influence in wealth management. BofA CEO Kenneth Lewis went as far as to say that U.S. Trust helped BofA enhance its credibility in the wealth-management sector.
So it's no surprise that the bank is now launching a $25 million wealth-management national advertising campaign. "It is brand building around a new brand," says Raj Seshadri, evp of strategy, marketing and communication for U.S. Trust. "The legacy of U.S. Trust [is] a very strong brand in wealth management, and the Bank of America brand has very high awareness and stands for substantial resources and reach. So coming together, the new U.S. Trust brand really brings the best attributes of both entities together."
The campaign has an unmistakable tone of gravitas, tapping into the complex money issues faced by the ultra-rich. The Boston-based Hill-Holliday agency produced the campaign, which includes print, radio and television spots.
One print ad shows a client strumming an acoustic guitar on the bumper of a classic '60s VW bus. The teenage white male sports long hair and a hippyish look, and is surrounded by an entourage of similarly dressed friends. In the upper left-hand corner is a picture of the present-day customer, in his 50s, talking on his cellphone while taking in a magnificent view from his house in the hills.
Above the picture, the text reads, "The most valuable car in his collection isn't the Ferrari, the Cobra or the Aston Martin, but a 1968 bus." In the margin is written: "Maybe it was the bold dream. Maybe it was the determination. Maybe it was the crazy hours. No matter how you created your wealth, you've never forgotten where you came from. Or the values that got you where you are today. With a unique understanding of the things that matter most to you, we offer a personal approach to structuring and managing wealth, designed to maximize opportunity and supported by a depth of financial and intellectual capital that's rooted in over 200 years of experience."
That might be a far cry from the '60s generation's original ideology, but it's clear for whom the ad is intended: the uber-rich who earned their own money, rather than being born into wealth. "They are clearly targeting new-money Boomers," says Dan Veto, svp at Age Wave, a think tank specializing in the Baby Boomer group, which was born between 1946 and 1964. "They are speaking to people that don't come from generations of family wealth. What they are really looking for are people who have amassed their wealth in their own lifetime, through their own efforts," according to Veto.
The ad ends with, "Wealth management for today's wealth," and a vertical list: wealth structuring, investment management, credit and banking, legacy and philanthropy, multi-family office. BofA declined to provide the radio and TV spots.
Seshadri insists this is a values-based campaign, rather than a generational one. "Really, the campaign is targeted at wealth of all ages, as long as the level of wealth is in our sweet spot," she says. "Our target client, while they enjoy all the trappings of success, what's really important to them is their core values."
In another print ad with an identical theme, an Asian man in his 50s is profiled. The ad reads, "2,000 bottles of wine in his cellar, and somehow he's never lost touch with his inner meatloaf." Below is a photo of a classic diner.
Sherma Jones, vp and creative director for Nebraska-based Idea Bank Marketing, believes that both ads are far too jumbled to be communicative and do not connect quickly enough with the viewer. "For a print ad that is trying to engage right away, because there is a lot of clutter, I don't think either one of these ads is effective," she says. "They're kind of deep, maybe a little too philosophical, to make an immediate connection."
Veto of Age Wave disagrees, saying that the ads connect to Boomers because they speak to them as individuals, something very important to this group, he says. Also important, he says, is that the ads aren't stodgy, an affliction he says which characterizes many other bank wealth-management campaigns.
