Stock brokers and sexy models don't usually have much to do with
each other, at least not professionally. But then again, neither does a
smashed up sports car and online trading.
However, as establishing a foothold in the already-crowded online
brokerage industry gets increasingly difficult, late comers to Hong Kong
are fighting for attention, armed with everything from free tissue
packets to dotcom stocks and smashed-up Ferraris.
When Tai Fook On-Line Services, a branch of Tai Fook Online Securities,
launched its services in November 2000, its senior executives found
themselves in the company of model Rosemary Vanden-broucke. Together
with 200 of their colleagues, they scouted the streets for potential
investors, handing out packets of tissues.
US-based online trading firm E*Trade Securities recently kicked off its
Hong Kong operation by ramming a car into a Ferrari. E*Trade's
television campaign has been created by BBDO, the agency behind the
in-your-face campaigns that have made Sunday telecoms a household name
in Hong Kong.
Clearly by ramming a car into a Ferrari, BBDO is hoping the eventful
start will help E*Trade achieve its - objective: to "get a reaction from
the Hong Kong public". That it did; more than 119 complaints have been
logged with the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority.
Viewers complained the ads encouraged destructive and vengeful
behaviour.
E*Trade managing director, Mathias Helleu, says the public "can expect
other promotions with great impact from us" and adds, "we will continue
to be bold, aggressive and humorous in our marketing". The campaign is
perhaps the latest sign of the intense competition rocking online
stockbroking in today's bear market and the lengths some have to go
through to compete.
One of the early players, Charles Schwab, has been marketing
aggressively for some time. Cash On-line, the online trading subsidiary
of Celestial Asia Securities, has established online trading cafes
throughout Hong Kong. It also splashed its name across billboards in
major districts.
Local firm Boom Securities opened trading branches and spent vast
amounts on promoting it services, while the securities arm of property
giant Sun Hung Kai also started its e-trading arm SHK Online. As Charles
Schwab's marketing director, Gary Leung, points out, the controversial
E*Trade TVCs are in line with the company's advertising tone in the US.
"If they hadn't come out with something dramatic, I would have been
shocked," Leung says.
However, the question many are asking is whether this aggressive
approach will make up for E*Trade's late market entry.
E*Trade has come into the market challenging established brokerages such
as Charles Schwab with an even lower commission rate. Motiv8 managing
director, Chris Fjelddahl, whose agency handles the Charles Schwab
account, says there is "always a case for ads that rock the boat", but
adds, "I think perhaps this approach is needed considering how late
E*Trade entered the market."
According to Fjelddahl, the two online brokerages are targetting a very
different market. "There is a big difference between someone who trades
Microsoft in the US, or someone who just trades Cheung Kong
locally."
Centro chief creative officer, Stanley Wong, agrees that the TVC has the
power to stop the audience in their tracks. But timing is another
matter.
Says Wong: "The idea is simple - jealously. It's one that not many have
touched on and the ad has been done beautifully. But it's the message
that is worrying. It's not really relevant at this time. They are giving
the message that E*Trade can make you a millionaire at a time when
stocks are down and there is unlikely to be any empathy. I'd say they
are a little late to promise this."
