Is LPL's new ad campaign 'pitch perfect' for advisors?

Rich Steinmeier, CEO of LPL Financial Holdings, continues to push LPL to unseen avenues with the leading brokerage firm today, unveiling a national ad campaign featuring “Pitch Perfect” film star Anna Kendrick delivering the message, “What if you could?”

The series of ads, which will run across business, sports and lifestyle enterprises, is a first for LPL, the industry's largest broker-dealer for independent contractor financial advisors. In the past, these professionals have become displeased with parent companies like LPL putting the spotlight on their own names and brands rather than those of financial advisors.

In 2013, LPL dipped its toe into national advertising when it bought time for short ads on business news channel CNBC. But those ad spots were just 10 seconds long and popped up in between news segments, appearing 10 times a day on CNBC for a month and a half. This current campaign is much larger and more mainstream.

The new ad with Kendrick features the actor walking through a town square, pulling a lawn and asking a series of questions, such as, "What if you could get financial advice more easily?"

The lawn is an obvious reference to the rule of thumb - the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

LPL has 29,000 financial advisors under its roof who work with $1.8 trillion in client assets.

Steinmeier is not afraid to push LPL to different areas of the market. He took over as CEO last October and has since engineered perhaps the most notable transaction in the firm’s history, the purchase of rival broker-dealer Commonwealth Financial Network for $1.7 billion in cash.

“This new ad campaign is emblematic of Rich Steinmeier’s goals for LPL, and that’s exciting because that represents growth for the wealth management industry in general by creating more visibility,” said April Rudin, CEO of an eponymous marketing firm.

“The campaign is different because it’s from business to consumer and directed at the end investors who are the least familiar with LPL,” Rudin said. “It also creates a halo effect for advisors and also could have an impact on the firm’s recruiting efforts as well due to greater brand recognition.”

“And Anna Kendrick signifies a younger investor profile that LPL is targeting,” she said. “And also to women. Gone are the days of old yachts in retirement ads to end investors.”

“This is the first big-budget commercial I can recall that's geared to an advisor audience as opposed to an investor-centered message,” said Johnn Sandquist, founder and CEO of Three Crowns Copywriting and Marketing. “It’s pretty cool to see the importance being placed on advisors. There should be more of that. Let's see others follow suit now and give independent advisors the marketing attention they deserve.”

In a press release, Steinmeier said that, “based on advisor feedback, we're introducing LPL Financial to the consumer market for the first time, establishing a connection with the people who rely on LPL advisors and affiliated institutions to help them reach their goals."