The motivation behind the marketing campaign dubbed Talk to Chuck (TTC) came out of the realization that the company’s core values of differentiation, relevance, esteem, and knowledge had been lost along the way. These factors were critical since differentiation and relevance were clear measurements of the brands strength while esteem and knowledge were indicators of the brand stature. Between 2002 and 2004, the company’s perceived differentiation had declined considerably, and this meant that the likelihood of investors considering the brand had diminished within that period. For the company to gain its former glory, the element of innovation and progression had to be brought back.

Ideally, what had happened was that investors had lost confidence in the brand, and they had instead decided to transfer their investment into companies that they perceived as progressive. For years, Schwab had prided itself as an innovative company that came up with products that gave it an edge over its competitors. However, this innovative nature had waned with the passage of time during which period Schwab competitors had come up with products that were more appealing to investors making majority of them to withdraw their investments from Schwab. Before, investors were accorded an element of centricity and the moment that this was lost, the investors also began to shift their investment to companies where they had some level of centricity. This is what motivated the development of the TTC campaign.

Company Strategy behind the TTC Campaign

Although the company had succeeded in rolling back price increases, more still needed to be done especially on the area of retaining the existing clients and attracting new ones. The company wanted to exploit the existing gap on the level of satisfaction with the individual brokers and the industry as a whole. The campaign was specifically meant to address the major client concerns of excessive broker commission on their stock trades, overpowering mutual fund selection options, and the aspect of being offered stock recommendation on the basis of opinion instead of reality. Initially, the thing that had made Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. favorite among people was the element of individuality that investors were offered. TTC was, therefore, an individualized way of dealing with clients as compared to the traditional formality of Wall Stress advertising. By incorporating the name of Chuck in the campaign, it was hoped that clients would identify with the company’s initial ideals.

Ideally, the campaign only targeted individuals between the ages of 35-54 years who had between &50,000 and $2 million as investable assets. This group was targeted since it was perceived to be confident and financially concerned. While the younger population could have been a little bit carefree with their investments, the targeted population would have wanted to feel that they were in control of their investments and,therefore, the need for a strategy that would give this group the sense of control that they lacked in other companies.

Effectiveness of the TTC Test Market

            To justify a higher level of funding for 2006, the marketing team had decided to carry out a TTC test market in every region where the campaign was conducted. In order to ensure that the test results were efficient, the team had selected 26 markets each with just about 1% of the total U.S. population. To make the results even more efficient, the test market was further reduced to 6 through the selection of markets where neither Schwab nor any of the competitor companies were headquartered. The test market was in areas where the results could match with a Brand Development Index and Category Development Index perspective. Given that Schwab only had 2000 field sales representatives, the test market had to be narrowed to only the regions where there was a notable field sales presence. To ensure that the test results were even more efficient, the test markets had to meet the $250,000 portfolio to ensure that it netted in the required target market.

According to the Schwab’s market research, the TTC test market showed that consumers rated Schwab in a more favorable manner as the campaign progressed. The TTC test result also indicated that a large number of people who had recalled their investments had indicated their willingness to get back into the program. A good section of the target market had indicated that Schwab was a unique alternative with still a larger percentage indicating that Schwab was gaining ground. During the campaign period, there was a notable reduction of 5% on the on attrition or rather factors that dissuaded people from moving their investment to competition. The effectiveness of this campaign can be seen from the clear increase in new accounts as well as net new assets from new households within the measured period (Quelch, &Winig, 2008).

Supporting the TTC Budget for 2006

Given the apparent success of the 2005 TTC campaign, there is a need to support the budget for the 2006 TTC campaign. In the 2005 budget, only $1 million was used in conducting the campaign as the remaining $15 million was used in conducting the TTC test market. The increase in the net new assets for the last quarter means that the campaign is beginning to bear fruits, and it should therefore not be stopped at this point. Considering that the 2005 campaign was limited by lack of funding, the success that it generated is enough proof that the proposed budget for 2006 needs to be supported especially considering that it will be launched in the 1^st quarter of the year when consumer investment activity are strong.

As observed, majority of the field sales representatives have been less enthusiastic about the new campaign due to the constantly changing nature of ad campaigns. Given that these field sales representatives acts as the contacts between the customers and the company, there is a need to continue with the company to avoid creating a scenario where the sales reps feel like their efforts are not being appreciated. Compared with our main competitors such as Merrill Lynch, Schwab has an insignificant number of field sales representatives, and this means that their number needs to be increased, and this can only be possible if the marketing budget for 2006 is approved. Although there is a general feeling that everyone within the company clearly understands what ‘Chuck would do’, this is a misconception, and there is, therefore, need for everyone to be trained on the founder’s vision. This would avoid a scenario where the staff at the company would fail to live by the tenets of marketing campaign thus leading to customer disillusionment. This will only be possible if the marketing budget for 2006 is approved.

Reference

Quelch, J., &Winig, L. (2008). Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. The “Talk to Chuck” Advertising Campaign. Harvard Business School 507(5), 1-18.