Scottrade Gives More for the Money

BOSTON Scottrade Financial Services bows its first national television campaign from Gearon Hoffman next week.

Ad spending this year by the St. Louis client will total about $20 million.

A trio of 30-second commercials from the Boston-based independent features vignettes showing what company founder and chief executive Roger Riney was like as a boy. In "Topiary," the young Riney surprises his mother by creating an ornate sculptured garden as part of his regular yard work. A spot called "Camping" finds the youngster on an outing with friends; he builds an elaborate tree house, cuts and stacks countless cords of firewood and roasts a pig for dinner.

"Even as a kid, I believed in giving people more for their money," the real-life Riney says, explaining the advantages Scottrade offers to online investors. The spots are not tagged.

The shop was selected for the account following a review earlier this year; the client had previously handled its advertising in-house. Print and direct executions are also part of the assignment.

The work is important for the agency because it helps re-establish the shop in the financial category after its loss of longtime client BrownCo, a unit of J.P. Morgan Chase, last December following a review won by Via of Portland, Maine.