Hennion & Walsh Asset Management, the independent US financial services firm, has launched a new US campaign to give anxious pre-retirement investors the confidence to challenge their existing wealth manager. The work has been created by London-based AML, Hennion & Walsh’s creative agency for 11 years.
The new ads, spanning TV, radio, press (newspapers and magazines), social and digital display amplify Hennion & Walsh’s ‘The Second Opinion People’ platform launched in 2024 by offering investors a free Hennion & Walsh second opinion to help them sense check their pre-retirement decisions.
The creative is built around the confidence-inspiring theme ‘No shadow of a doubt’ and revolves around deployment of the ampersand in the Hennion & Walsh name previously used in the firm’s 2025 campaign “& More”, also created by AML.
In the new campaign’s visual executions, ‘No shadow of a doubt’ is dramatized as a literal shadow in the shape of a question mark, representing the uncertainty so often felt by investors worried about making the right financial decision. This then pivots at the point investors decide to seek a second opinion to transform into the ampersand in Hennion & Walsh. For radio, the same transition is represented through sound design.
The TV and radio ads open with a series of questions; “Are you afraid of losing money in the stock market? Afraid of leaving returns on the table? Or confused about what to do next?”. These then give way to a series of everyday relatable scenes culminating in the “&” in the Hennion & Walsh name becoming the embodiment of resolution as worry is turned into confidence. Music mirrors the narrative arc with its emotional shift. The ads end with the line “Hennion & Walsh. The Second Opinion People”.
Hugo Bone, Executive Creative Director at AML, said: “When you’ve been with the same wealth manager for years, it can feel uncomfortable to ask whether you could be doing better. Yet we seek second opinions about other important decisions all the time. We wanted to make that step feel just as natural for people approaching retirement: a sensible question to ask, rather than a sign of disloyalty.”
Steffen Pelz, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Hennion & Walsh added: “For people approaching retirement, there’s a lot riding on the financial decisions they make, so it’s understandable that they want reassurance they’re on the right track. A second opinion gives investors the opportunity to sense check their current strategy, ask questions and explore whether there might be a better approach. This campaign is about encouraging people to take that step and giving them greater confidence in the decisions they make about their financial future.”
The campaign breaks nationally on TV and radio with press and magazine ads to follow, along with paid social and digital display.
CREDITS
Agency: AML
Executive Creative Director: Hugo Bone
Art Director: Stephen O’Neill
Copywriter: Lizzie Hutchinson
Account Management: Hannah Cooper & Joanna Lippiatt
Agency producer: Dan Anderson
Director: Rod Jorge
Production company: Dreamatorium
Sound design: Nick Angell Productions / Creative Outpost
Typographer: Brad Saunders & Duncan Naylor, AML Studio
