In the early days of online trading, E*TRADE owned the “trade smarter” positioning, which did nothing to bring new online traders over the perceived hurdle of technological complexity.
Ameritrade built its story around the notion of “ease,” which differentiated and brought them closer to a whole new world of customers. “Let’s Light This Candle” established the Ameritrade brand and showed how easy online trading could be.
Results: This Emmy finalist campaign beat the previous control, produced thousands of new accounts monthly and ran for three years. It created excitement and trial, not to mention America’s favorite advertising character – Stuart, slacker hero of the new dot com era, who was featured in several other spots and in President Clinton’s final National Press Correspondents Dinner film.
