LPL Taps Anna Kendrick in Latest Ad Campaign

LPL Financial is rolling out the red carpet.

The nation’s largest independent broker-dealer is looking to expand its reach even further and has kicked off a new advertising campaign called “What if you could?” featuring actor Anna Kendrick that will include video, social media, billboard, digital, and print spots. The move comes on the heels of LPL’s $2.7 billion acquisition of Commonwealth Financial Network, part of a broader expansion push. While LPL traditionally marketed to advisors, the new effort aims to make its name more recognizable to everyday investors.

“If an advisor starts their own business and goes through LPL, their clients can say, ‘Oh yeah, they’re the ones with Anna Kendrick,’” said Frank LaRosa, CEO of Elite Consulting Partners.

Woman of the Hour

You may recognize Kendrick for her role as Beca Mitchell, the cup-tapping lead in all three Pitch Perfect movies. Last Thursday, LPL debuted a commercial that features Kendrick dragging an absurdly large swath of grass through city streets, essentially saying “the grass is greener on your side when you choose LPL.” An IBD going the Hollywood route has been done before, with one of the most notable examples being a collection of Ameriprise TV spots from the early 2010s that featured the always stone-faced Tommy Lee Jones.

What’s new for LPL is advertising directly to consumers. The firm has been “quietly delivering” on its goals since its 1989 founding, company CEO Rich Steinmeier said in a statement. Despite being the largest IBD with almost 30,000 advisors, LPL is not really a household name to average Americans. “You’d be surprised how few people have heard of LPL,” LaRosa told Advisor Upside. “Their pitch to advisors has always been, ‘If you come to our firm, it’s all about your brand.’”

Lights, Camera, Action. The second part of the campaign still targets wealth managers. LPL released a series of short testimonial videos in which advisors share how LPL helps them do more with their time and resources. “If I could, I would enable my advisors to use financial planning software as the driver and the engine to their practice instead of just being an option or an add-on,” Premier America Credit Union advisor Ye Su said in one of the ads.