RTX9LV
A sign is seen outside the E*Trade offices can be seen in New York November 12, 2007. E*Trade Financial Corp told customers on Monday it can absorb a write-down of as much as $1 billion and is well capitalized, after an analyst said credit woes put the online brokerage at risk of bankruptcy, sending its shares down a whopping 58 percent. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

E-Trade is finally ending its “talking baby” campaign. Just as it was getting old, E*Trade pulls the plug on the iconic advertising campaign that started in 2008.

In a new commercial to be broadcast during this year’s March Madness college basketball tournament, the E*TRADE baby gets a “new sidekick” in the form of an irritating but ultimately funny singing cat. Baby doesn’t dig it and promptly quits.

E*TRADE recently named a new CEO, Paul Idzik, who wanted to take the company’s marketing campaign in a new direction. The company hired a new chief marketing officer, Liza Landsman, and changed ad agencies, perhaps prompting the end of the talking baby campaign.

The talking baby ad debuted at the Super Bowl broadcast in 2008 and quickly became a favorite. The campaign started as a way to show people that trading stocks online was easy. Online trading is far more common now, so the ad may have lost its relevancy, says marketing expert Allen Adamson.

This year was the first year since then that the talking baby didn’t make an appearance at the Super Bowl, perhaps a sign that he was being "retired." (You can watch the top 5 ads from 1998-2013 here, including the famous Budweiser frogs commercial in 1999, definitely one of the best).

Watch the E*TRADE ad below.

No word yet on whether they’ll keep the cat …

Advertising Marketing