Time to retire the financial planning industry's aging fictional ambassadors.
The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards said Monday that it's ditching its
"Are you sure you're qualified to do this?" the fictional client asks. (He doesn't have a name.)
The scene then pivots to a financial advisor's office, where the customer breathes a sigh of relief after learning he's working with a certified financial planner.
"CFP professionals are committed to working in your best interest," intones the voiceover before launching into the campaign's new tagline: "That's why it's gotta be a CFP."
'More bold'
CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller said the organization's marketing pushes coincide with the federal tax return filing deadline (this year, April 18). That's because it's a time when people are more likely to be thinking about their financial situation.
Around this time of year, television, radio and websites are also replete with ads from brokerages, banks and other financial service providers. By using an ad with an edgier tone, Keller said, the Board is hoping to "break through all that."
"That's what led us to be a bit more bold than 'Cal' and' Val'," he said. The silver-haired couple appeared in commercials replete with golf clubs, tennis rackets, beach chairs and festive drinks.
The Board, whose certification is the gold standard in the planning industry and is held by more than 95,000 advisors, plans to spend $12 million on its campaign this year. Most of the money will go to the TV spots that run through May 21. Related ads will appear in online searches and social media sites throughout the year, and there will also be a small radio campaign.
The TV ads will run on broadcast networks including ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, as well as streaming services like Prime Video, Hulu and HBO Max. Sports fans will see the commercials on CBS during the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds of this year's NCAA March Madness tournament on March 23-26. They'll also be on ESPN's SportsCenter on March 24 and the CBS Sports Network all week.
The latest blitz hearkens back to the less-serious tone of the board's campaign during
Charles Sachs, the chief investment officer of Miami-based Kaufman Rossin Wealth, an accounting and wealth advisory firm, said there's little value to the CFP designation if the public can't understand what distinguishes it from scores of other titles used by people who call themselves "advisors."
Sachs said he had heard anecdotally from some of his firm's planners that clients now expect to work with CFPs.
"One of our more senior guys is now sitting for the test, because he has been asked, 'Hey Dave, why aren't you a CFP?" You've been doing this for more than 20 years," Sachs said. "So he's getting some pressure from that end."
Pay your dues
The Board ran its first ad campaign in 2011, paying for it with a
Dues have since jumped to
Some planners think that's a tad excessive. In a LinkedIn post on Monday, Michael Kitces, a founder of the XY Planning Network for financial advisors,
Other responses were supportive. "Love it! Short, simple, to the point, and funny,"
"I think largely because of this advertising, people know what a CFP is," he said.
Since 2011, the CFP Board has spent roughly $150 million on ads designed to convince the public they're best off working with advisors who've met the experience, testing and education criteria needed to qualify as a certified financial planner. In this year's campaign, 61% of dollars are going to network TV, 15% to streaming services, 11% to website advertising, 7% to search engine ads, 4% to social media sites and 2% to radio.
The Board has relied on research firm Ipsos to measure the effectiveness of its public awareness campaigns. In a poll from April 2015 of 602 people with between $100,000 and $1 million to invest, Ipsos found that
The figure was up from 17% in the first year of the Board's marketing campaign, in 2011. This year's push, aimed at clients between the ages of 35 and 64, was devised with the help of Nashville-based marketing firm The Buntin Group.
Advisors can't qualify to become a CFP unless they have a bachelor's degree and have worked at least 6,000 hours in the industry or served at least 4,000 hours as an apprentice. They then must pass a 170-question multiple-choice test and go on to fulfill continuing-educations requirements for as long as they hold the certification.
One of the CFP Board's primary goals is to give the public a means of distinguishing the most-competent, best-qualified advisors. Its
