Is there a single online financial services customer that wouldn’t want an iPod nano? Even if you didn’t like sticking white tentacles in your ears, surely someone in the extended family would graciously accept one as a gift.

At $200 a pop, it’s a pricey premium, but TD Waterhouse <tdwaterhouse.com> is using it to attract new brokerage customers. Small banners located in various spots within Yahoo Finance <finance.yahoo.com> say exhort users to, "Get an iPod nano" (see inset). The brokerage doesn’t actually use the word FREE in the banner or on the landing page (click on inset for a closer look); but it’s certainly implied, and in fact, it is free if you follow the rules (see below). The offer is not mentioned on the broker’s main website.

Details
As an industry analyst, we love these offers; not because of the flashy premium itself, but for the mountains of fine print we get to dissect. Unlike Citi’s free iPod Mini offer, which has users jumping through hoops such as making at least two bill payments per month, TD’s offer is pretty straightforward:

     – Open a new account with at least $50,000
     – Keep it there for at least 6 months
     – New or existing customers qualify

The biggest exclusion: RETIREMENT accounts don’t qualify, nor do corporate, custodial, partnership and 529 college savings plan. Retail value is estimated at $249 and the company warns that it may be considered taxable income.

—JB

If you’d like to some more original financial marketing ideas, check out the Interactive Financial Marketing Database from our sister publication, the Online Banking Report.