The concept was refined to focus on a baby as a hero, suggesting the idea, “If I can do it, you can do it.”

There’s an old adage in advertising that says you can’t go wrong with babies and animals. Apparently, E*TRADE proved it to be true. In a video interview with Ad Age magazine in April 2009, Nicholas Utton, CMO of E*TRADE, says of the ad: “It had the humor, but it had the very very practical message of, Investing solutions are tough… E*TRADE has exceptional value… We’ve simplified it and we’ve put you in the driver’s seat.”

That first ad generated so much buzz that it became the start of a series of ”talking baby” ads that have had the ad industry, and consumers, talking. Along with the webcam cinema vérité style of each ad, it is the wise observations and funny wisecracks of the baby (and in subsequent ads, his baby friends) that make for such a memorable campaign. Computer graphics are used to animate the babies’ mouths and antics, but the underlying copy platform is integral to the success of the ads.

The company has continued to rely on talking babies to boost its brand in subsequent Super Bowl ads, but Utton says the messages have shifted with the economy to account for the reality of the financial times. For example, the ad that appeared during Super Bowl XLIV (February 7, 2010) and is currently running features a baby who apologizes to his baby girl friend for not calling her because “I was on E*TRADE, diversifying my portfolio… taking control, like a wolf. What’s that, that’s volatility in the market, taken care of, wolf-style.”

E*TRADE hasn’t overlooked the viral opportunities of talking babies, either. The company produced a video of “baby out-takes” that raced across the Internet, generating millions of views prior to and after the Super Bowl advertising.

Needless to say, the babies have also been immortalized in social media. There are more than 12,000 Facebook fans of the E*TRADE Baby and more than 3,000 followers of the E*TRADE Baby on Twitter. There have been more than 19 million views of Baby ads and out-takes on YouTube, according to E*TRADE. E*TRADE’s latest viral tie-in is “BabyMail,” a free tool on E*TRADE’s website that allows consumers to customize and send video messages starring one of the E*TRADE babies.

Despite the baby ads, the marketplace in which E*TRADE operates is anything but child’s play. E*TRADE aggressively promotes itself as the “#1 online broker for the third straight year,” as determined by Smart Money magazine. E*TRADE has also become known for its innovative investing and trading tools, such as the E*TRADE Mobile Pro application available for iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones. But E*TRADE faces stiff competition from other brokerage firms such as TD Ameritrade and Scottrade, and from diversified investment firms such as Fidelity Investments and Schwab.

E*TRADE also offers banking services, which puts it in direct competition with giants in the banking industry. Because of the banking operation, E*TRADE suffered losses on its subprime mortgage holdings. That contributed to a net loss from continuing operations for 2009 of US$ 1.3 billion, compared to a loss of $809 million in the prior year.

Nevertheless, the company had a net gain of 115,000 new brokerage accounts in 2009. E*TRADE chairman Robert Druskin said the company recapitalized its balance sheet and is now “maintaining its focus on the online brokerage business” which, he says, “performed extremely well.” If the talking baby ads can continue to drive prospective customers to the company’s website to open new brokerage accounts, E*TRADE should have nothing left to cry about.

Barry Silverstein has been a frequent brandchannel contributor since 2007. He has thirty years of advertising and marketing experience and is currently a freelance writer and marketing consultant. He founded and ran his own direct marketing agency and held executive positions with Epsilon, a leading database marketing firm and Arnold, a major ad agency. Silverstein is the author of three marketing books, including the McGraw-Hill book, The Breakaway Brand, which he co-authored with Arnold CEO Fran Kelly.