E*Trade Stokes Rage Against the 1% in Remarkable Ads From MullenLowe

Following a creative review earlier this year, and its selection of MullenLowe as agency of record, E*Trade is back with a spankin' new campaign it hopes will "re-establish" its "rightful place in consumers' minds as the original place to invest online." The "Don't Get Mad" campaign uses "truth bombs" to shake prospects out of financial passivity ... though if passivity is your thing (and you still don't want to die poor), a new spate of robo advisers might work just as well. Composed of multiple spots and print work, this fresh attempt to win territory back from the robots kicks off with an anthem spot itself titled "Don't Get Mad," wherein a man, dismissed by his well-to-do boss, resentfully imagines everything the "haves" get in life. For a sense of what that's like, imagine if Fyre Festival went down as planned. It's all very Great Gatsby, complete with tulle gowns and pizza delivery via helicopter, and is set to Chaim Topol's treatment of "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. [kickout id="1"] "Don't get mad," the spot ends, "get E*Trade." Instead of going all Fight Club and burning corporate America down, our protagonist decides to take it on and become an investor. The other spots follow along that vein, drawing upon small 99-percenter irritations and making them all the more aggravating with vivid imaginings of what life is probably like on the other side of the curtain. In "Plane Truth," a man in coach—getting his seat repeatedly kicked by a bratty kid—gets up to literally gaze through the aforementioned curtain. First class on his flight is set up like a cozy bar, with liberal space and champagne on tap. A beaming stewardess approaches and, as his spirits lift on the robust winds of hope, draws the curtain shut in his face. "First class is there to remind you you're not in first class," E*Trade dryly tells us. "Don't get mad. Get E*Trade—the original place to invest online." [kickout id="2"] Next comes "Yacht Life." It looks awful—a shark-shaped nautical monstrosity packed with douchebags. But E*Trade, nothing if not self-aware, knows exactly where it's leading us. "The dumbest guy in high school just got a boat," it hisses. "Don't get mad..." [kickout id="3"] "Hard Work" is anything but, and seems to build from where "Yacht Life" left off. This time, though, the guy partying on the yacht is much older than your dumb high school friend. "The harder you work, the nicer the vacation ... your boss goes on." [kickout id="4"] "Board Meeting" continues the seafaring trend, this time with Bond-style music and a fully suited exec surfing the waves, dragged along by a helicopter. "Your broker's unavailable. He's in a wakeboard meeting," E*Trade instigates. [kickout id="5"] The vignettes go live today, and are backed up with a series of print ads that stoke the fires of rage against the 1 percent that much more. This first one draws directly from "Yacht Life," completing your picture of the "dumbest guy in high school" with a high school photo of him. "Twins" is a reminder of how much entitlement and ease can be had when you're lucky enough to be born into a family whose birthday presents include trust funds. But perhaps more irritating than any of these is "Chicken," which recounts a fun fact, liable to peck at you when next you review your bank statements. "Don't Get Mad" is a pretty aggressive departure from "Opportunity Is Everywhere," a cutesy R/GA campaign from last year in which various investors spoke in tongue-twisters to describe the sectors they're literally banking on. It is folksy in comparison, more a message about betting on passions than chasing obscene opulence. In fact, it's hard not to get a little aggravated by the MullenLowe spots—especially when you're at Cannes, shut off from the sea and tapping away at a computer, to which you'll most likely be anchored for the rest of this rosé-drenched week. (Hi, bosses! #jokingnotjoking) But this is exactly the emotional response E*Trade and MullenLowe are looking for. The subtext is older than our battered copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad: There's working hard, and there's working smart. As the World Economic Forum so kindly reminded us on Twitter this week, the fruits of our labor are worth precious little—unless, E*Trade suggests, you can transform some of those fruits into passive income. Whether your feelings will beat the robots (driving new competitors WealthSimple and Ellevest) remains to be seen. But E*Trade's betting they will—for its own fortunes, at least. CREDITS Client Credits: Client: E*TRADE Financial Chief Executive Officer: Karl Roessner SVP, Head of Marketing: Lea Stendahl VP, Brand and Advertising: Dawn Burke Specialist, Brand and Advertising: Natalie Labuda VP, Media: Lauren Radcliffe Agency Credits: Agency: MullenLowe US Managing Partner, Chief Creative Officer: Mark Wenneker Executive Creative Directors: Tim Vaccarino, Dave Weist Creative Director: Adam Calvert Creative Director: Jeff Vermeersch Video Content Director/Yeti Prod.: Emile Doucette Associate Creative Director: Ian Fairbrother Associate Creative Director: Chris Cavalieri Global Chief Strategy Officer: James Fox Deputy Head of Strategy: Elizabeth Paul Executive Director of Integrated Production, US: Lisa Setten Executive Producer: Mary Robinson Assistant Producer: Sarah Brennan-Athas Director of Art Production: Tracy Maidment Studio Director: Bob Hunter Creative Director, Design: Sean O’Brien Executive Producer, Curator of Art/Design: Shawn Smith Associate Director, Print Production and Experiential: Kristine Ring-Janicki Associate Director, Print Production: Aidan Finnan Group Leader – Layout: Nick Minieri Senior Copy Editor: Xazmin Garza Art Producer: Eden Alaxanian Jr. Art Producer: Samantha Sturchio Director of Business Affairs: Kim Burns Senior Business Affairs Manager: Amy Keddy Business Affairs Manager: Maria Rougvie Managing Director: Jonathan Goldmacher Account Director, PR: Jaclyn Ruelle Account Director: Crystal Todd Account Executive: Ellie Keeton Senior Project Manager: Jessica McLeod Production Company: Smuggler Director: Ivan Zacharias Executive Producer: Allison Kunzman Line Producer: Nick Landon DP: Jan Velicky Spot Titles: “Don’t Get Mad” :60 “Yacht Life” :30 “Plane Truth” :30 Editorial: Robota Editor: Filip Malasek Grade: UPP (Universal Production Partners) Colorist: Ondřej Štibinger Grade Producer: Magdalena Halamová VFX: The Mill CD/2D Lead: Corey Brown 2D Artists: Blake Druery, Yoon-sun Bae Designer: Laura Nash Executive Producer: Rachael Trillo Producer: Anna Borysewicz Production Coordinator: Zach Fortin Audio Post: Sound Lounge Sound Mixer: Tom Jucarone Producer: Liana Rosenberg Music for “Yacht Life”: Original Music: Mophonics Mophonics Composer: Benjamin Hostetler Mophonics Creative Director: Stephan Altman Mophonics Co-Writer and Vocals: Robert Casey Gibson Mophonics Head of Production/Partner: Shelley Altman Music for “Don’t Get Mad”: “If I Were a Rich Man” from the motion picture FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Artist: Chaim Topol Spot Title: “Crack of Noon” :15 “Hard Work” :15 “Board Meeting” :15 Editorial: PS 260 Editors: Dustin Stephens and Ned Borgman Assistant Editor: Colin Edelman Head of Production: Laura Lamb Patterson Grade: UPP (Universal Production Partners) Colorist: Ondřej Štibinger Grade Producer: Magdalena Halamová On-Line Finishing: PS 260 Finishing Flame: Margaret Yang Graphics: Patrick Lavin, Colin Edelman Audio Post: Sound Lounge Sound Mixer: Tom Jucarone Producer: Liana Rosenberg Print: “Dumb Guy In High School” Social: “Chicken” Photography: Getty/Chris Tidmore Photography: Getty/ The Plummer-Kennedy Conspiracy “Trust Fund Twinsies” Print Photography: Dirk Vogel

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E*Trade Stokes Rage Against the 1% in Remarkable Ads From MullenLowe

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