Financial Services 2000
Charles Schwab
Buy. Hold. Cell.
FROM THE PRINTED PAGEOriginal ad copy
OCR transcription from the archived page. Scanning and reading-order errors may remain.
Buy. Hold. Cell. SCHWAB POCKETBROKER™ CAN MAKE YOU A SMARTER INVESTOR BY KEEPING YOU CONNECTED TO THE MARKET. Market summaries? Your account balances? Trades? Now you can access them while you're on the move with Schwab's PocketBroker. PocketBroker allows you to access the power of Schwab from a variety of mobile devices. Like this all-in-one, Internet-ready Ericsson R280 cell phone. And as you'd expect from Schwab, PocketBroker is also available from your choice of Palm™ IIIxe or Palm Vx handhelds. And the RIM Wireless Handheld.™ With Schwab's PocketBroker you get a whole new level of convenience and control. After all, if you're a well-connected investor, you can be a smarter one. If you already have an Internet-ready phone, you can find us on your phone's web menu or at pb.schwab.com.* OPEN AN ACCOUNT: GET A WEB-ENABLED PHONE Open a Schwab account online with a minimum of $10,000 and get your choice of an Internet-ready phone, compliments of Schwab. So get mobile access to your account, market information, trading and much more. Log on today, call 1-800-3-SCHWAB or visit a Schwab branch near you. schwabwelcome.com where every investor is always welcome™ Charles Schwab creating a world of smarter investors™ *Customers are subject to service levels, privacy, security, fees and usage policies of their wireless service provider. Offer valid for new Schwab or SchwabOne accounts opened online and funded between 10/16/00 and 2/15/01. Offer does not include retirement and Schwab Institutional accounts. If you work at Schwab, a wireless equipment or service provider, another financial institution, broker-dealer, news or financial information media company, you are also not eligible for this offer. Offer is valid until 2/15/01, unless terminated earlier by Schwab. Terms and conditions apply. Please consult Schwab for details. Web phones are manufactured and supplied and wireless service is provided by independent third parties that are not affiliated with Schwab. Selection of web phones may also be limited due to market availability or compatibility requirements of the wireless service providers. PocketBroker Service, including real-time quotes, news and trading features may be delayed, limited or unavailable due to limits of wireless coverage and during periods of peak demand, market volatility, system upgrades or maintenance. Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. or its subsidiaries and Research In Motion, RIM and the RIM Wireless Handheld family are trademarks of Research In Motion Limited, independent companies not affiliated with Schwab. Domestic US customers only. Limit one per customer. Offers must be redeemed no later than 6/30/01. Deposits must be new to Schwab; margin loans and deposits or transfers between Schwab accounts do not qualify. Exceptions may apply. ©2000 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC/NYSE (0900-6562).
Commentary
The phone takes up nearly half the page. Its thick antenna, physical number keys and small greenish screen make “connected to the market” look like a remarkable new physical capability. Schwab’s PocketBroker logo on that screen supplies the bridge between the financial institution and the object in the reader’s hand. The headline, “Buy. Hold. Cell.”, turns a familiar investing sequence into a three-beat joke about where the service now lives.
The body copy names specific tasks—market summaries, account balances and trades—then broadens the promise to convenience and control. It also lists the Ericsson R280, Palm IIIxe, Palm Vx and RIM handheld, showing a service trying to work across several competing mobile forms. The offer box changes the pitch again: open an online account with at least $10,000 and receive an Internet-ready phone. That sum matters. The ad speaks expansively of a smarter, mobile investor, but the free-device offer addresses a reader able to fund a substantial new account. The fine print narrows it further by date, eligibility, service coverage and the possibility that quotes and trading may be delayed or unavailable.
The ad catches a shift in what “being in touch” meant for an investor. The telephone once connected someone to a broker; here it is a small terminal for information and transactions. Today Schwab offers account and trading access through a mobile app, so the large handset and its web menu read as a transitional technology. The customer need for information away from a desk is still plain in the three opening questions.
For a new copywriter, the headline is a lesson in changing one word of a known phrase. “Cell” sounds like “sell” and points to the giant handset, compressing product, setting and audience into three short beats. The clipped questions beneath it keep that tempo while naming real uses. The wordplay earns its place because the picture makes the substitution unmistakable; without the phone, the line might look like a typo.
Schwab’s history of access to investing traces its discount brokerage to 1975 and its web service to the mid-1990s. It remains a brokerage and financial-services company, with account tools and trading available in its current mobile app.
The durable promise is portable access to one’s financial information. The device subsidy, $10,000 threshold, named handhelds and caveats about wireless coverage belong to this particular offer and network era. Most revealing is the distance between the jaunty three-word headline and the dense conditions below: a useful reminder that simplicity in financial advertising must still lead readers to the limits of the claim.