ANALYSIS: Advertising - Bear market likely to dilute E*Trade's dramatic debut. Atifa Hargrave-Silk looks at at how online brokers are getting their message out

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."

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