Raymond James Pitches "Tales of Financial Pragmatism"

It's a fanciful scenario, to be sure: Emily Skinner, a "fastidious librarian," lives to the improbable age of 187, enjoying life to the fullest every step of the way because she had the money she needed to do so — thanks to the prudent investment strategies of U.S. financial advisory brand Raymond James.

This is the first in a series of "Tales of Financial Pragmatism," a new ad campaign that the firm hopes will differentiate its financial services in a marketplace in which consumers are still reeling from economic shock. The message is carefully constructed to appeal to prospective clients who have taken a much more conservative approach to investing their funds.

Mike Gray, president of ad agency Martin/Williams who developed the campaign, thinks the timing is just right.

He tells Marketing Daily, "It's an answer to the mess we've just come through. When you step back and look at what we've been through, it was an amazing opportunity to express this."

"It's all about being pragmatic and prudent with your money and the decisions you make," Gray adds. "Prudence is in vogue. We talk about the new normal and all these adjectives, but here's a company that is about that."

Raymond James, founded in 1962, offers investment services and financial planning. Today it counts more than 5,300 financial advisors in 2,300 locations throughout the U.S., Canada, and overseas. Still, it isn't exactly a household name; in fact, it might be easily confused with Edward Jones, another much larger firm (over 10,000 offices) that advertises more heavily.

The "Emily Skinner" television ad is running now during Major League Baseball's American League Championship Series, as well as on CNN. It will be accompanied by print and online executions, all under the tagline, "Life well planned." The Raymond James website supports the campaign, using one of the print ad headlines on its site: "Let's just say we look both ways before we look both ways."