Despite soft market conditions, Charles Schwab has stepped up its
customer acquisition drive, with a trio of benefits that play up its
role in revolutionising stock trading for the ordinary customer.
The company's "Investor Revolution" campaign offers a low permanent flat
commission rate of 0.2 per cent for investors opening a Hong Kong stock
account before March 31, a "trade-one-get-one-free" offer before June,
and an investor protection insurance of HKdollars 7.8 million (about
USdollars 1 million) for every local account.
Schwab's marketing director, Gary Leung, said the broker was looking to
increase its customer base by 20 per cent.
"It's not a very aggressive target. We are not going for a huge mass
base without reasonable revenue returns or capacity to support this,"
said Mr Leung.
"We want to expand, but in a prudent manner."
The online brokerage market has been plagued by a fierce price war in
the past few months. Last year, the Taiwanese-funded KGI group waived
commissions for six months.
Schwab's flat commission rate - said to be "low but not the lowest" - is
expected to turn up the heat in the marketplace.
"It is definitely a market share grabbing situation right now," said one
observer, adding that the online trading market was wide open, with no
dominant market leader.
"Right now, no one has a major market share. You want to go grab market
share because five years down the road you will be sitting on that as a
fairly stable share of the pie."
Schwab's triple offer is being promoted through a series of consecutive
half and full-page print ads in English and Chinese newspapers
respectively.
Designed by Schwab's marketing agency Motiv8, one execution features a
female fitness enthusiast fitted with boxing gloves "punching" home the
brokerage's offers.
Said Motiv8 art director Morrissey Cheung: "We've stuck close to the
style and flavour of the overall campaign, which really talks to the
affluent investor-segment. Prelaunch research has shown this offer to be
really attractive - so we've tried to communicate this 'knock-out'
element in the ads."
The print campaign is supported by radio, outdoor, interactive and a
direct marketing drive, cross-selling products to existing
customers.
