Merrill Lynch Wealth Management 'help2retire______' Campaign Encourages Individuals to Reevaluate Retirement Plans with a Renewed Focus on What Matters Most

NEW YORK, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America today announced the debut of "help²retire______" (read "help2retire blank"), a new, U.S.-based marketing campaign designed to illustrate individuals' evolving retirement priorities and personal aspirations. The campaign encourages individuals to "fill in the blank" by identifying aspects of their working and financial lives that they want to put an end to, and to work with a Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor to help them focus on what matters most when planning for and during their retirement years.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050720/CLW086LOGO-b )

The theme of the new "help²retire______" campaign builds on an ongoing Merrill Lynch Wealth Management "help²" campaign, first launched in October 2009 and designed to demonstrate a commitment to delivering personalized, insightful financial advice, along with a broad platform of financial solutions, to help clients pursue their financial goals.

"The recession caused many individuals to take a hard look at their retirement plans and investment portfolios, and to consider lifestyle tradeoffs as they assess exactly how they want to live in retirement," said Claire Huang, head of marketing for Bank of America Global Wealth Management, Global Banking and Global Markets. "As will be shown throughout our help²retire campaign, retirement planning is an intensely personal process that individuals are wisely beginning earlier in their lives, and throughout which a Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor can serve as a trusted advisor."

The new campaign reflects results from the latest Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly survey, released Jan. 14, 2010, which found that roughly half (51%) of retired respondents would have focused more on their 'life goals' and less on 'the numbers' when planning for retirement if they could do it all again. These respondents indicated that they would have spent more time determining how they wanted to live in their retirement years (38%) and based their retirement income needs, not just on a number that would sustain them but on one that would help them live their ideal lifestyle during these years (13%).

"Our latest research further shows how the recession has led to a renewed focus on core values that guide individuals in their retirement planning, such as family and friends, philanthropic endeavors and basic quality of life, health and wellness issues," Huang added. "Developing a retirement strategy that addresses these issues and prioritizes what will matter most to an individual or couple during their later years requires the type of personalized relationship our Financial Advisors can provide."

Some examples of the campaign's "fill in the blank" creative themes include:

• help²retire Guesswork: Do you have a plan for your income needs in retirement?  A Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor can explain how the Merrill Lynch Retirement Income Service could help.
• help²retire Confusion: Having trouble deciding whether a Roth IRA conversion is right for you? A Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor can explain the potential benefits and help you determine if one is a good fit for your long-term strategy.

Additional examples include: help²retire Rush Hour, help²retire The Routine, help²retire Long Hours, help²retire The 6 AM Train and help²retire 9 to 5, among others.

"This campaign further reflects our commitment to delivering personalized advice to help our clients pursue their financial goals throughout their lifetime, which includes helping them plan for and experience retirement on their terms," said Justine Metz, head of marketing for Retirement & Philanthropic Services at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Bank of America will spend roughly $20 million on the new "help²retire______" campaign, which officially launches on Jan. 25, 2010, and runs through the end of April 2010. During this period, the campaign is scheduled to air during both broadcast network and national cable programming, including on Bloomberg TV, The Golf Channel and CBS College Sports during the 2010 NCAA Basketball regular season and Conference Championships, as well as across radio and "out-of-home" marketing channels. The campaign will also appear in a variety of print and online daily and weekly publications and trade magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Fortune, Golf Magazine, Food & Wine, Kiplinger's, The New York Times, The Economist, Investor's Business Daily, Financial Planning, InvestmentNews and others.

An integrated team of agencies, led by Hill Holliday, worked with Bank of America to develop the new creative. For more information about how Merrill Lynch Wealth Management can help you experience retirement on your terms, visit http://www.ml.com/help2retire.

About Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 59 million consumer and small business relationships with 6,000 retail banking offices, more than 18,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with nearly 30 million active users. Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to more than 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients in more than 150 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

www.bankofamerica.com

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SOURCE Bank of America Merrill Lynch