buying philippine stocks online - making up your mind on what stocks to buy is the hardest thing to do, even in print ads

anyone who is into stock trading will tell you that one of the hardest if not the hardest thing to do when you invest in stocks is - making a decision on what stocks to buy. you can have all the facts, all the data and the analysis at hand but making up your mind what to buy is a tough one.

and that i think is one of the things they grappled with on that citiseconline print ad. they had a difficult time making up their mind on what they want to do in the ad.

the most fundamental confusion and this has affected the whole ad in a very major way is - is it a "program" or a "investment product" like a mutual fund?


this is not an executional issue, it is a strategic one. and it's possible it goes deeper than an advertising strategic issue but all the way to the root, that of a product strategy issue.

the question citiseconline need to answer is -- what is the product they want to advertise? is it a learning program or is it an investment product? there are very major differences in the way you will advertise something that is a product versus one that is a program.

unless that is clarified clearly, the confusion will always be there.

this confusion shows in the ad - both are talked about in the ad. the headline, footer and the name of the product talks of a program. the body copy and subhead talks about an investment product. that confusion effectively weakened the ad. lack of focus wastes space and does not make for any strong sale on anything.

this confusion has affected another element in the ad - the lack of a strong reason why. this is the second weakness of the ad.

the use of barredo is the "reason why" but it is meaningless to most of the target audience because most of the audience are non-citiseconline clients and therefore do not know who barredo is. barredo is known only to citiseconline clients and in fact even among citiseconline clients, only a few know who he is.

depending on the chosen strategy, they can use as reason why one of the two: (a) why they have a proven way to minimize risks and maximize earnings or (b) how their system teaches clients to become smart and therefor profitable investors.

i do not know exactly what the product they want to advertise, but to me, its obvious the whole ad needs a major rethink. they need to start from square 1 - the product.

as an investor myself, new investment products is a very good thing for the market. there are many people who want to invest into the stock market but do not do so because they find it too daunting and complicated. whatever it is that citiseconline is selling will be good for investors and the market. hopefully it will expand the philippine stock market's user base. and thats good for all investors and the philippine stock market.

now, if only they can fix that ad......