Apparently the way to get people to use your financial planning services these days is through images of children. These print ads for Edward Jones and TD Ameritrade both appeared in the January 14 issue of Fortune Magazine. Both use pictures of children but in different ways. The one for Edward Jones is forward looking and boasts of their experts being proactive and planning for life events before you do. The ad for Ameritrade is looking backwards to a childhood fairy-tale ending that they know we have all heard a million times. Which one uses kids better?

The Winner: Edward Jones. While pulling on the heartstrings and making your viewer think of the better days of yesteryear is a great lead-in. There is no real selling point in the TD Ameritrade ad. And, since they can’t actually promise they’ll give you a happily ever after, they back off on that in the second line of copy. “No one can promise what the future holds, but planning helps you be ready for anything.” The ad even goes on to state what they do isn’t rocket-science, just common sense. Well, I’m not really sure what I need Ameritrade for then. The most redeeming part of this ad for me is the copy point about how their retirement specialists do not work on commission. Feature that; it’s a selling point that you can use to compare yourself to your competition.

On the other hand, the Edward Jones ad uses the cute child to lure you in and then touches upon a subject that anyone with a child can relate to. “How am I gonna pay for this kid’s education?!” They then further assure a potential customer by promoting themselves as “local”. While this isn’t entirely related to college planning, it is a general selling point that sets the consumer’s mind at ease.

Seen any other interesting kid-focused financial planning ads? Feel free to post links in the comments section.