citiseconline print ad - build reputation, build wealth

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citiseconline is one of the country's online trading stock trading company. it's relatively new and it has been successful with it's clientele having grown very well over the months. they recently released an ad for a new product - "COL EasyInvestment Program".

it's actually a confusing ad.

first, they call it a "program", it's not a product or a service but a program. so this is not like a mutual fund where you give your money to the investment firm and they invest your money for you, you can just forget about it and wait for it to earn.

this is how most people understand what a "program" means - its like enrolling in an exercise program in a gym and when we follow that program, we lose or maintain our weight and become healthier. the better we stick to the program, the better the results.

the headline ("Learn how to build wealth - the easy way!") and the footer ("Learn how easy it is today!") talks of the same thing - that it is some kind of a learning program, very similar to what happens when you enroll in an exercise program in your gym.

but that is not what it says in the body copy. in the body copy, it sounds like a mutual fund type of product - you choose Premium Growth stocks selected by "seasoned financial analysts", give them P5,000 for it.

they have in the ad a picture of juanis barredo. i think when most readers look at the picture, they will have three questions - who is he? why is he in the ad? what's the point?

that leads to a discussion of target audience. who is the target audience of this ad? citiseconline is a relatively new service and from a marketing standpoint, the logical target audience for them are primarily individuals who are not yet stock investors and secondarily individuals who use live stock brokers and other clients of other online stock brokers. the former is a very large audience - while investors in the philippine stock market have grown significantly in the past months, the number of investors are still on the over-all very small compared to other markets. it is a largely untapped market.

with most of the readers of this ad not citiseconline clients and an even much greater number who are not even stock market investors, it means the chances that the target audience will know who juanis barredo is, is anywhere from nil to 0.1% of them at best.

the purpose of including pictures of people in ads is to enhance the selling power of the ad. i agree that putting someone who is an "expert" or an "authority figure" can make the product being sold more attractive, but if that "expert" and "authority figure" is not known to the target audience, what then is the value of including that person in the ad?

that is i think the greatest weakness of this ad. juanis barredo is known only to citiseconline clients. barredo conducts seminars and talks for citiseconline clients who want to learn technical analysis of stocks that can help in being better stock investors. but if you are not a citiseconline client, you will have no clue who barredo is nor would you know his credentials. in fact i think even among citiseconline clients, barredo is probably known only to a few - those who have attended their free seminars.

the other related weakness and something that also adds to the confusion is the stated title of barredo - "Head Of Investor Education". that title matches with the headline, footer and the "program" label of the product.

but that title does not match with the body copy. the body copy talks of "Premium Growth stocks selected by seasoned financial analysts". being "head of investor education" does not necessarily mean "seasoned financial analyst".

for barredo to give power to this ad, they need to build up his reputation in the ad. we need more information and a sale on how good barredo is as a financial analyst, if he is one.

as the headline suggests, for this ad to build wealth for COL, this ad needs to first build a reputation for barredo among its target market - the general investing public.

it's a WAWAM!