Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron Star in New Television Advertising For Schwab
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020201/nyf022_1.html
Friday February 1, 8:02 am Eastern Time
Press Release SOURCE: BBDO New York and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron Star in New Television Advertising For Schwab
Commercial to Debut on ‘Super Bowl Sunday’
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ — Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. will debut new television advertising on “Super Bowl Sunday.” The new commercial pairs Barry Bonds, the holder of the single season home run record, with Hall-of-Famer Hank Aaron, the all-time home run king, in a spot which will help highlight Schwab’s advice capabilities, particularly in the area of retirement investing. It was created by BBDO New York and will premier during the Charles Schwab Kickoff Show — the sole commercial airing between the coin toss and the start of Super Bowl XXXVI. It will then be rebroadcast during the fourth quarter of the game.
The new ad opens in an empty stadium, under a moonlit sky, with Barry Bonds practicing his home run swing, cracking balls into the outfield stands. Suddenly, an unidentified voice whispers to Bonds: “Barry Bonds, it’s time. It’s time to walk into retirement.” Bonds dismisses the voice and resumes his practice, only to be interrupted again: “Why hang around just to break the all-time home run record?”
Once again, Bonds resumes his swings. However, this time, the voice has become so distracting, he is only able to hit a weak foul ball. Bonds steps out of the batter’s box and looks upward to the sky, shouting, “Hank, will you cut it out already?”
The scene cuts to reveal the unidentified voice belongs to Hank Aaron, All-Time Home Run Leader, who has been sitting in a press box, observing Bonds. Aaron looks sheepishly at the camera and responds, “Hank? Hank who?”
A super appears on screen as an announcer voice over asks, “Want retirement advice from someone you can trust?” The announcer continues as the scene switches to an independent Schwab investment center: “At Charles Schwab, you’ll get expert retirement advice that’s objective, uncomplicated and not driven by commission.”
“We’ve chosen Super Bowl Sunday to showcase why Charles Schwab offers investors a compelling alternative to full-commission brokers,” said Jack Calhoun, Executive Vice President, Advertising and Brand Management at Schwab, adding, “This spot helps demonstrate that investors can trust the expert advice from Charles Schwab because it is always objective, uncomplicated and not driven by commission.”
Calhoun further noted that Schwab opted to feature highly recognizable baseball players in advertising that would debut in the most visible football game of the season “in order to defy expectations and help our message stand out within this very competitive environment.” He added, “We’ve done this successfully in the past, through the use of non-sports personality presenters, such as Ringo Starr, and last year’s female spokesperson, Sarah Ferguson. We are confident the use of Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron will help us achieve similar results in this year’s game.”
The Charles Schwab Corporation through Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Member SIPC/NYSE), U.S. Trust Corporation, CyBerCorp Holdings, Inc. and its other operating subsidiaries, is one of the nation’s largest financial services firms, serving 7.8 million active accounts with $846 billion in client assets through 429 domestic offices, 5 regional client telephone service centers andautomated telephonic and online channels. About 25% of Schwab’s client assets and 10% of its client accounts are managed by the 6,000 third-party, fee-based investment advisors served through Schwab Institutional.
The Charles Schwab, U.S. Trust and CyberTrader Web sites can be reached at http://www.schwab.com, http://www.ustrust.com, and http://www.cybertrader.com, respectively.
BBDO New York is the flagship office of BBDO Worldwide, the third largest global agency network. In 2001, BBDO New York was named “Agency of the Year” by Ad Age Creativity. In addition, BBDO Worldwide was named “Global Agency of the Year” by Ad Age, Ad Age Global and Adweek magazine, the leading industry publications, marking the first time that a single agency had swept the top honors at all four of these major magazines.
In addition to Charles Schwab and Co., BBDO New York’s clients include: Bayer, Campbell’s, Cingular Wireless, Duracell, FedEx, Frito-Lay, GE, Gillette, Guinness, HBO, KFC, M&M/Mars, New York Stock Exchange, Office Depot, PeopleSoft, Pepsi-Cola, Pizza Hut, Unilever and Visa, among others.
SOURCE: BBDO New York and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.