Bank of America is to launch a new advertising campaign next week, in print and television, to target individuals with at least $3 million to invest. The $25 million campaign is the first joint effort by Bank of America, the largest and most populist US bank, and US Trust, the private bank it purchased in November for $3.3 billion. Bank of America has combined US Trust with its own private banking unit, including a sub-unit that catered to the ultra wealthy, to create a combined entity with $322 billion in assets. Bank of America has made the growth of its wealth management division a key element in the strategy for overall growth, and the advertising campaign represents the first attempt to introduce the combined group to the public. “Bank of America hasn’t done a lot of advertising around its wealth management capabilities,” said Anne Finucane, the chief marketing officer of Bank of America. “This is new to this part of the bank.” The ads, aimed at individuals with at least $3 million to invest, revolve around the idea of self-made money — as opposed to inherited wealth — and are imbued with “the core values of nostalgia for family and friendship", according to bank spokesman Jon Goldstein. Karen Kaplan, president of advertising agency Hill Holliday in Boston, said: “The base of wealth in America is changing, but the way we have talked to consumers about it has not changed. It’s been stuck in this stereotypical world of boats and summer homes and vacation homes.” Those themes will be absent from the Bank of America campaign. The ads are intended to place Bank of America at the centre of a fierce battle among financial services institutions for the wallets of the wealthy and the ultra rich. A diverse group of institutions — including blue-chip investment banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, old-line private banks and boutiques like Bessemer Trust — have been chasing these customers aggressively. The Bank of America campaign does not address financial issues directly. Mr Goldstein said: "Our customers are already wealthy and have already taken care of those nuts-and-bolts concerns.”