Rydex chases rivals with glitzy new ads

Rydex Investments of Rockville, Md., is hoping that a glitzy new marketing campaign that includes television commercials will help it overcome the head start its chief rival has taken with regard to inverse and leveraged exchange traded funds. ProShare Advisors LLC of Bethesda, Md., launched the first of 58 such ETFs last year and broke $9 billion in assets under management last month. Rydex didn't launch its first such ETFs — six ExpressShare ETFs that provide leveraged and inverse exposure to the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, S&P MidCap 400 and Russell 2000 indexes — - until this month. Rydex, however, is pulling out all the stops to spread the word about its new ETFs, which come with a total expense ratio of 0.7%. ProShare's ETFs have an expense ratio of 0.95%. For example, Rydex plans to run commercials touting its new ETFs on Bloomberg Television through Dec. 23, said Dawn Kahler, a spokeswoman for Rydex. It is the first time that Rydex has advertised on television, she said. It will also run print ads in various trade publications, including InvestmentNews. Rydex isn't advertising with mainstream media outlets, because it wants to aim its new ETFs at investors who are more "sophisticated," Ms. Kahler said. Since leveraged and inverse ETFs made their debut last year, critics have complained that the products are too dangerous for the average retail investor.