We are on a smoothe, beige-sand beach with small waves washing onto the shore. In the middle of the scene stands an attractive blond woman. To her right, on the ground, we see the tips of numerous white surfboards fanned out out the sand. The blond is of a solid athletic build, with a boyish haircut. She is standing legs apart, her left hand on her hip, her lowered right hand holding a black and white megaphone. She has a whistle around her neck. She is wearing a balck wet suit, with a patch of blue fabric under her left arm. The wetsuit‘s pantlegs come to above her knees, the sleeves above her elbows. The chest piece of the suit is gray, seeming almost diaphanous, as if her breasts were covered in something almost see-through. Next to her is a red Eams chair. She stares straight ahead, confidence filling her beatiful eyes and residing on the curving lines of her sensuous lips.
Such is the picture offered to the reader in a full-page, color ad in the Sunday New York Times (16 Sep 07).
At the bottom of the photo is a large caption: "It’s not just about where your dreams will take you. It’s where you take your dreams.“
There’s a cloud of words in smaller text underneath: "Whether your dream is to open a surf school or write the Great American Novel, the best place to start is with someone who believes in your dreams. That‘s why more people come to Ameriprise for financial planning than any other company. Our Dream>Plan>Track> approach to financial planning begins with your dreams, not numbers. Dream>Plan>Track is an ongoing process where, together, you and an Ameriprise financial advisor will define your dream, develop your plan and track your progress – making sure your dreams and your plans are one and the same."
(A small asterisky note at the bottom says: "To find out more about the red chair, go to ameriprise.com/redchair." This is a nice, sleep dream sort of feature. But it hasn't enticed me visit their website.)
The marketing of dreams as goals. Ameriprise wants it understood that what they really care about is your dreams and mine. They want to help make our dreams real. Interestingly, their "dream-track-plan“ strategy is, indeed a way of working with all types of dreams, to reality-check and calibrate inner and outer worlds. But somehow this ad’s version of dream work seems to be all about money. It seems that well-planned money is what that will make any and all dreams manifest. Money can buy you dreams, can't it?
Oh, and by the way, Ameriprise will, undoubtedly, take a certain cut of your money and mine to make our dreams come true. Is it possible that they are actually in this for their own financial good? What, exactly, is Ameriprise's dream?
The company's hybrid name is interesting, a mysterious dream clue. It consists of "Ameri" plus "prise." "Ameri" would seem to hearken to "America".which is generally intended to evoke noble and patriotic feelings. This is rather straight-forward. (Or is it?) "Prise," however, is an interesting word, with several meanings. It can mean: to regard highly or to prize. Perhaps this company wants to help us get the Prize? Or does it value us, the dreamers? Either way, this is something positive.
However, the other meanings of the word Prise are a bit more troublesome. It also means: to make an uninvited or presumptuous inquiry. Is this company's name saying that it's business is to pry into our lives? Finally, the meaning that first comes to my mind is: to force or pry open. Is the company's goal to pry our money out of our hands? To prise our dreams out of us?
Wait a minute! Whose dream is this, anyway?