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United States
A new financial advisory service targeting Boomers may be ahead of its competitors but might lose its grip if managing remains cheap

Mis en ligne le 03/07/2007

Ameriprise‚ a newcomer among financial advisory services is earning some success by aiming openly at Baby Boomers. But a string of mismanagements might cost it its advance on competition.

Many brand owners have been surprisingly slow in recognizing the buying power of the 78 million Baby Boomers in the US. But one brand has taken the road to success with this target audience – a financial advisory service by the name of Ameriprise Financial.
In September 2006‚ Ameriprise launched a new advertising campaign featuring actor Dennis Hopper – who portrayed a motorcycle-riding rebel in the 1969 movie Easy Rider.
Everything about the ad campaign is designed to appeal to Boomers. The images are of Boomer-age individuals who appear vital and alive.
Central to the campaign‚ and forming the basis of the Ameriprise brand strategy‚ is a process the company calls the "Dream – Plan – Track" approach to financial planning. Ameriprise offers prospective customers a free "Dream Book" to guide Boomers into the future. On its website‚ Ameriprise says‚ "Dreams don't retire".
Ameriprise competitors like Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab haven't exactly overlooked the Boomer audience. But few financial services companies have focused as pointedly as Ameriprise on Boomers and latched on to the dream concept with such fervor.
One reason may be the fact that Ameriprise is a relatively new brand with an urgent need for awareness. The relatively well-off Boomer audience is fertile ground for personal financial planning‚ the core of Ameriprise Financial's business. According to Forrester Research‚ four in ten younger Baby Boomers have not yet started any financial planning for retirement. By concentrating its marketing dollars on this often-neglected market‚ Ameriprise has the potential to get a larger share of the Boomers' business faster than its competitors.
Ameriprise says it conducted research with Boomers in which a key finding was that people want a financial advisor who understands them. This was rated just as important as return on investment.
As a company‚ Ameriprise began only one year before the Hopper ads were created. It may be one of the "newest oldest" financial companies in operation. But its roots go back to a company called Investors' Syndicate‚ started in 1894. After several ownership changes throughout the XXth century it became an independent public company in 2005 under the name Ameriprise Financial.
The company's record in the past has not exactly been exemplary. In the year of its launch‚ Ameriprise had to enter into a $15 million settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for market-timing charges. Also in 2005‚ Ameriprise was fined by both the NASD (a securities-industry organization) and the State of New Hampshire for fraudulent use of its financial plan to improperly sell proprietary products. Other legal troubles plagued Ameriprise in 2006‚ including the loss of NASD arbitration cases; the company also faces at least one class-action suit.
Ameriprise received one of the lowest rankings in customer satisfaction in a J.D. Power and Associates survey of financial advisory firms conducted in 2006. As of January 2007‚ the investment research firm Morningstar gave Ameriprise only two stars out of a possible five-star rating.
Another challenge for Ameriprise is the fact that more than half of its advisors are actually independent franchisees. They are registered representatives but not employed by the company‚ so their long-term loyalty may be at risk.
At this stage‚ image experts say the best thing an embattled brand like Ameriprise can do is make clients happy enough so they offer testimonials‚ refer friends and associates‚ and willingly endorse the financial-planning services of Ameriprise Financial.
Only then could the brand expect an easy ride.

(Brandchannel.com‚ 25/06/2007 : "Ameriprise dream investment ?")

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