Charles Schwab - Talk to Chuck
Background
In 1975, Charles Schwab revolutionized the brokerage industry with a different business philosophy - allowing individual investors to manage their assets and making transactions free from high costs and conflicts of traditional brokerage firms. Schwab was able to lead the investment wave of 90¡¦s by sticking to the customer centric principle and by adapting to the new technology faster.
However in the late 90¡¦s and early 2000¡¦s, Charles Schwab¡¦s brand was caught in an increasingly competitive and commoditized category, stuck between deep discount brokers and full service firms. The competition from the internet discount brokers like Ameritrade, E*trade etc cut into the market share and transaction fees, the company¡¦s main source of income. In Chuck¡¦s own words, ¡§we lost our connection with our clients and our market place¡¨.
Talk to Chuck (TTC) Campaign
Schwab worked with the ad agency Euro RSCG to create the Talk to Chuck campaign. After a six month test in 2005 covering Chicago, Denver and Houston, the campaign was launched nationally on Sept, 2005. Market¡¦s reaction to the TTC campaign came quickly. Local press picked up the new campaign and Schwab was the talk of the town. The 4th quarter 2005 results showed an 11% increase in revenues and a 253% increase in net income over the fourth quarter of 2004.
Objectives of this Case Study
« To evaluate the advertising efficiency of the TTC campaign
« To discuss about the advertising objectives, message strategy, media selection and performance measures based on the test market results
« To provide strategic marketing recommendations
Advertising Objectives of the Campaign
The campaign was aimed at regaining Schwab¡¦s footing after major missteps after the dotcom bust and to regain the sense of momentum it once had with the mass affluent investor. It had a focus target - 35 to 54 year olds with between $50,000 and $2 million in investible assets ¡V which was just 8% of
In 1975, Charles Schwab revolutionized the brokerage industry with a different business philosophy - allowing individual investors to manage their assets and making transactions free from high costs and conflicts of traditional brokerage firms. Schwab was able to lead the investment wave of 90¡¦s by sticking to the customer centric principle and by adapting to the new technology faster.
However in the late 90¡¦s and early 2000¡¦s, Charles Schwab¡¦s brand was caught in an increasingly competitive and commoditized category, stuck between deep discount brokers and full service firms. The competition from the internet discount brokers like Ameritrade, E*trade etc cut into the market share and transaction fees, the company¡¦s main source of income. In Chuck¡¦s own words, ¡§we lost our connection with our clients and our market place¡¨.
Talk to Chuck (TTC) Campaign
Schwab worked with the ad agency Euro RSCG to create the Talk to Chuck campaign. After a six month test in 2005 covering Chicago, Denver and Houston, the campaign was launched nationally on Sept, 2005. Market¡¦s reaction to the TTC campaign came quickly. Local press picked up the new campaign and Schwab was the talk of the town. The 4th quarter 2005 results showed an 11% increase in revenues and a 253% increase in net income over the fourth quarter of 2004.
Objectives of this Case Study
« To evaluate the advertising efficiency of the TTC campaign
« To discuss about the advertising objectives, message strategy, media selection and performance measures based on the test market results
« To provide strategic marketing recommendations
Advertising Objectives of the Campaign
The campaign was aimed at regaining Schwab¡¦s footing after major missteps after the dotcom bust and to regain the sense of momentum it once had with the mass affluent investor. It had a focus target - 35 to 54 year olds with between $50,000 and $2 million in investible assets ¡V which was just 8% of