Forced retirement looms for E-Trade baby as ad agency severs ties

Dot-coms, tech firms and startups often run the dumbest, most offensive TV ads and Super Bowl commercials. But one little baby in the bunch has always been old reliable – the E-Trade baby. The little guy is looking at early retirement, though, as the ad agency responsible for creating the popular ‘talking baby’ campaign has suddenly severed its ties with the online stockbroker.

Grey New York, the ad agency responsible for the talking baby ads, has resigned from the E-Trade account and will no longer represent the online trading firm. Internal emails obtained by various sources indicate that this was an unpleasant breakup, and it was Grey New York that chose to break off the seemingly successful relationship.

The E-Trade baby ad campaign may be finished now that the ad agency has dumped E-Trade as a partner. While E-Trade does own the copyright on the baby and can continue running the ads, the company is rumored to be ditching television advertising altogether.

AdAge obtained the internal email from Grey New York president Tor Myhren and chief operating officer Michael Houston. “After a spectacularly successful six-year run, we are resigning the E-Trade Financial account,” the email said. “We think it’s in both Grey’s and E-Trade’s best interests.”