• by Aaron Baar , August 1, 2008

With a core customer base of federal government employees and military personnel, financial services company First Command asserts via new marketing campaign that dreams and goals need not be only for the well-off.

"We're letting people know it doesn't matter how much you make," Dennis Holland, CMO of the company, tells Marketing Daily. "If you exhibit the confidence and are making sound financial decisions, you can have hope for the future. You can have a college fund. You can retire."

The effort, developed by the Ft. Worth, Texas*, company's in-house marketing department, is tagged, "Dream boldly. Plan confidently," and includes print and online advertising, direct mail, local radio and television.

The commercial begins with a box proclaiming "Dream boldly." Over images of a college student graduating, a retired couple surfing and a young couple expecting a baby, a voiceover says: "Dream boldly of creating opportunities for a child, of greeting the future with assurance, and of celebrating every occasion with joy." The first screen returns and the words "Plan confidently" appear underneath.

The campaign was developed after two years of consumer research that showed that people feel more confident and less stressed about pursuing financial goals when they have a plan in place, according to Holland. "We were able to draw some great connections between people who exhibit the right behaviors and their optimism and hope for the future," Holland says. "We found that when a financial plan was involved, the feelings of optimism, hope and confidence took a significant leap."

The campaign will initially target the company's client base of military and government personnel through print and online ads. Financial advisors in First Command's individual offices have been provided with media kits and primers about how to best deploy the campaign elements--from television to radio--in their local markets, Holland says. The company is also looking into running the television ad in select regional markets.

*Editor's note: The story was amended post-publication.