We are proud to share the first annual impact report from MotherBoard – the non-profiting initiative that is powered by ADLIB and sponsored by Not On The High Street. MotherBoard is a Business Charter, Event Series and Community that is creating real long-term change for mums working in the tech industry.
Over the past 12 months the MotherBoard Community and Charter have offered a platform for people to connect and discuss taboo subjects, whilst our growing signatories have committed to, and achieved change. Topics include:
• Mentorship • Promotion & leadership • Coding courses & funding • Infertility • Pregnancy • Sexism • Racism • Parental bias • Miscarriage • Menopause • Toxic cultures • Still birth • Redundancy in pregnancy • NDAs
Within the report you will see the positive impact MotherBoard have achieved since launching in 2021, we are excited to see what the next year holds!
We hope you enjoy having a read, if you would like to hear more about MotherBoard please email the team at [email protected].
MotherBoard is a Business Charter, Community, Event Series, and Podcast driving tangible change for mums working in the tech & data industry. We are on a mission to transform the industry to be more inclusive of mothers by tackling stigmas and supporting employers who want to create real change.
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The wealth management sector in the UK is undergoing a significant shift, driven by increasing competition, consolidation, societal changes in wealth distribution and advances in technology. Leading brands are capitalising on the opportunities this changing landscape offers. Many, however, lag behind – stuck in the traditions and mindsets of previous generations.
In this final article in our wealth management marketing series, we’ll summarise some of the key marketing trends and analyse the best ways to stay relevant in this highly competitive, evolving market.
SPOILER ALERT:
If you missed the previous articles in the series, we’d recommend checking them out. You can read them all here:
1. “The customer is always the main character” – What makes a good brand story?
2. “43% of the global high-net-worth population are women” – Is your story inclusive?
3. “Millennials don’t like being told what to do” – Time to rethink your strategy?
In the previous articles in this series, we’ve discussed how some brands are targeting women and millennials for growth. And for good reason:
We have seen this trend extend across the market, from firms catering to high-net-worth individuals through to the mass-affluent.
‘…in widening the conversation to include new demographics, brands feel contemporary and fresh, chiming with shifting societal attitudes…’
UBS are overtly targeting women at the premium end of the market, and Schroders are addressing millennials in the mid-market, both offering propositions and brand stories tailored to them. But it’s notable that neither feels forced or exclusive of other audiences. In widening the conversation to include new demographics, brands feel contemporary and fresh, chiming with shifting societal attitudes.
The mass-affluent end of the market is also burgeoning, with brands like ABRDN broadcasting a broad, inclusive and sustainable story to attract volumes of investors.
Other brands are following suit. St James’s Place has just rebranded, with the objective of showing they are “an inclusive, responsible and contemporary business”.
Sanlam have announced a name-change (Atmos) and imminent rebrand, which they say will reflect “a strong internal culture of collaboration, inclusivity and diverse perspectives.” The firm aims to become a leading, digitally enabled, hybrid wealth business.
Digital transformation is at the heart of many wealth management businesses’ strategies. Digitally enabled service is no longer the sole preserve of millennial demands. It is expected by a large proportion of society under 60 and has been accelerated by the challenges we all faced during lockdown.
‘… digitally enabled service is no longer the sole preserve of millennial demands…’
But it’s not only the service end of business that’s undergoing a digital transformation. The marketing function is becoming digitally enabled to create, disseminate and track marketing communications at scale, through a proliferating number of channels, across all stages of the prospect and customer journey.
Typically, these marketing machines have, at their heart, a CRM and marketing automation system linked to the firm’s website. These systems form the engine that drives the creation, delivery and tracking of results.
A digital asset management system will store all of the comms components – imagery and copy, blogs etc. – to enable consistency and efficiency.
A print-on-demand system may enable the online creation and ordering of personalised print communications. This is particularly relevant for firms who have a national network of offices, allowing for local marketing activity that’s governed centrally for brand consistency and budgetary control.
The ecosystem is constantly changing. For example, cookies – for a long time the industry staple for tracking and targeting data – are being phased out. The new version of Google Analytics (GA4) offers the way forward, using first-party data to connect all components of the marketing machine’s engine.
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“…the new version of Google Analytics (GA4) offers the way forward, using first-party data to connect all components of the marketing machine’s engine…”
In the first article in this series, we analysed both the message and channel strategy of a number of wealth management brands. We saw that the winners projected a consistent brand message over an extended period of time, committing a significant investment into the activity.
“…the channel mix differs depending on the segment of the market being targeted…”
That’s not to say that direct response marketing doesn’t have its place – St James’s Place have built an enviable position using predominantly direct marketing tactics. However, for affluent audiences in this competitive market, brand associations hold more weight.
The channel mix differs depending on the segment of the market being targeted. For example, ABRDN have invested heavily in TV to cut through into the mass-affluent market. UBS have used a mix of premium print and audio advertising. Online channels provide opportunities for niche targeting of millennials and women’s interest groups. Postcode targeting on the Sky Ad smart platform enables TV advertising based on mosaic profiles.
Ambient advertising can build awareness around local offices. Whatever the mix relevance to the audience, the benefits are only seen if the message is co-ordinated and consistent across all channels, and executed over an extended period of time. In fact, it takes at least six months for any brand building to take effect.
Undoubtedly, these are turbulent times for wealth management firms. Technology is disrupting, society is changing and market competition is getting fierce. Through the course of these articles, we’ve seen how a number of brands are evolving and gaining advantage through a broader, more inclusive brand story, concerted and consistent investment in brand advertising and the smart use of technology. It will be interesting to see who else follows suit. The winners will undoubtedly capture larger chunks of the market. Those stuck in the past may well be consigned to history.
Want to get ahead of the curve? Keen to make your messaging matter to millennials? Have questions about inclusive marketing? We’re here to help.
Get in touch with us at [email protected]
The importance of nurturing the region’s exceptional creative talent, alongside innovation, diversity, and sustainability were highlighted as priorities by industry experts and the audience at the first day of the inaugural Bristol and Bath Screen Summit, yesterday (2 November).
More than 100 people attended the event at Arnolfini, which was hosted by broadcaster Carol Vorderman and The Outlaws’ Gamba Cole.
Showcasing the city region as a leading global production community, the Summit was opened by the Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees. Guests heard from programme makers from some of the world’s biggest brands, including Bristol’s Grant Mansfield, founder and CEO of Plimsoll Productions, and Julian Bellamy, managing director, ITV Studios.
Lynn Barlow, Assistance Vice-Chancellor Creative and Cultural Industries Engagement, said: “A clear message from the first day of the event is that people are key to the industry’s success, and the incredible talent base and amazing track record of TV and film in this area is continuing to drive growth. We should celebrate what we have already achieved, but there is still much to do, particularly pushing innovation through creativity and technology, but also ensuring the industry is representative of all audiences by creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
“Thank you to the panellists who kindly gave their time to speak at the Summit – their insight really demonstrates how much the region has to offer as we look to the future.”
The creation of the Screen Summit is a key recommendation from research by UWE Bristol’s Digital Cultures Research Centre (DCRC); it found that while the screen industry in the city-region is booming, more could be done to overcome the political and economic challenges its facing.
As day two of the Summit gets underway today (Thursday 3 November), academics from UWE Bristol’s Digital Cultures Research Centre and the University of Bristol, will join regional and national policy makers and industry leaders to explore potential interventions needed to sustain clean inclusive growth in the city region’s production community.
In particular, they will discuss ways of supporting and extending the emerging indigenous film and television drama in the area, considering the benefits of creating a ‘regional production fund’ and access to investment packages, either to companies already based here or to those looking to bring productions to the area.
Speakers from other regional screen agencies, including Liverpool City Regional Production Fund, will share best practice and provide an insight into its key learnings and successes.
With attendees including representatives from the West of England Combined Authority, Bristol City Council, the BFI, and Screen Skills, the aim will be for a working party to oversee both how funding might be leveraged and how it could be used most beneficially once the resources were in place.
Bristol Academy of Voice Acting (BRAVA) launches a brand new Talent Database today to help local, national and international producers, casting directors and content creators find Talent for their projects: www.brava.uk.com/casting-database.
All featured Talent have been trained to BRAVA’s high standards and have cut professional voice reels, with high quality home studio capabilities to deliver work. Functionality includes the ability to download mp3 reels as well as view individual profile pages and submit full casting calls online.
Commenting on the launch of the new BRAVA Casting Database, founder & director, Melissa Thom, said:
‘Over the last year, we have been overwhelmed with calls from producers, casting directors and content producers and we have created the BRAVA Talent Database in direct response to this need. Our Talent have been trained to the highest possible standards across narration, commercial and characters and are voicing across a range of client projects, with enquiries increasing significantly. We are thrilled to showcase and support out Talent in this way.
BRAVA has already successfully cast a range of roles, including feature films, national commercials, online radio, audiobooks and more. We will continue to add further functionality and Talent this year as we grow. Our aim is to continue to connect our highly skilled voice actors with clients locally, nationally and beyond, in Europe and America’.
BRAVA works alongside some of the most prestigious global names in the industry to offer personalised online training in the art and business of voiceover. The Academy is specifically aimed at professionals from the fields of broadcast, digital, corporate and commercial, who are interested in adding voice acting to their skillset.
Core learning takes place online, meaning students can learn at their own pace, wherever they are. Training is offered as personalised 1-1s or group sessions and covers a wide range of topics, including Getting Started in VO, Corporate, Commercial and Narration, Characters, Audiobooks, Performance Techniques, Home Studio, Marketing, Vocal Health, VO & Shakespeare and Presentation Skills.
Find the database at www.brava.uk.com/casting-database or contact us at [email protected] to find out more.
To find out more about BRAVA go to www.brava.uk.com
The tech industry is fascinating from a brand perspective. Its growth has been so fast, disruptive and organic, with so many quickly expanding start-ups, that it has barely had time to pause and draw breath, let alone ponder what role brand might have to play in its future. When your numbers are good, something like brand scarcely seems to matter. Most companies have thrived despite, rather than because of theirs. But the hour of reckoning may be near.
In all industries there comes a point when it isn’t enough to have a great product or service to build a successful business. Knowledge spreads and grows. What once was groundbreaking rapidly becomes standard, imitable, improvable… the marketplace crowds and alternatives proliferate. Your ability to communicate your difference and your real value becomes ever more important as competition intensifies. Which is what makes the current situation in tech, digital and data analytics so interesting. With a plethora of similar-looking brands that use familiar language, the sector has evolved into a homogeneous playing field. The overwhelming sense is that everyone looks and sounds extraordinarily similar. That, for the wise, presents a far bigger opportunity than a few more lines of groundbreaking code.
It’s easy to see how things have come to be the way they are. All that mattered at the outset was the innovation. Companies started small and agile. Many really struggled to keep pace with their own success. Brand was often lumped in with digital marketing, handed to less senior people to take care of, and frequently seen as superficial – “just a logo” – and therefore low priority. The great thing about digital marketing from a digital company’s point of view? It’s easy to measure. Brand, which is bigger in every way, less so. All this is understandable: companies had people to hire, products to develop and customers to deal with. Even many who understand the importance of brand have simply put it off.
But now the situation has evolved. Many of those companies that started with two or three people now number twenty or thirty or substantially more. Now internal purpose, morale, discipline, decision-making and behaviour weighs heavier: bigger overheads, bigger clients, bigger responsibilities… each new step carries greater implications. How do you keep this ever-growing number of people together as a meaningful entity? Who exactly are you, as an organisation? What do you actually stand for?
The questions keep coming. How will you thrive consistently in the tech big battleground that is the fight for talent, when demand outstrips supply? What’s going to make high quality people choose you, instead of a close rival, for their next job, so you can maintain the high standards of the work you do as it scales up? Your good name and future business rests on it. And how, when you know that your product is better than your lookalike rivals out there, are you going to convince potential customers of that? How will they know who to believe? What’s going to get you the market share your innovation undoubtedly deserves?
Decisions going your way is the answer to these questions – and all of the great myriad of micro-influences that lead to that. But it’s easier said than done. The science of decision-making is fairly well documented. We’re not such rational beings as we’d like to believe, with up to 90 percent of the choices we make based on emotion… and later post-rationalised. This is just as applicable to tech as it is to buying chocolate in the supermarket or choosing a house. Instinctive decisions are made before we even know it ourselves. And this is where a brand – when it’s done well – comes into its own.
A brand isn’t simply a logo, a strapline, colours, imagery, fonts – it’s the sum of how all these are orchestrated, plus the behaviours and feelings that this leads to. It’s the whole experience of your organisation at every moment it has contact with someone. It’s the sum of every gesture and action by every employee as well as every facet of every piece of communication. A smart brand is alive to possibilities not just online or through marketing but anywhere there is engagement or the opportunity to bring its big core idea to life. Why can’t you make someone smile when they least expect it, in – say – the company car park for example? A brand is how you make your customers (and your own people) feel, which influences their behaviour towards you. And that’s why it’s a key strategic tool. The right thinking now can shape big, big decisions later. This is not a slap of paint.
To return to the tech sector in particular. It tends to be the case that tech companies focus intensely on what they have developed. It’s what they know, it’s where they feel comfortable. But what do they – or you – really know of the person who says yes or no to you, the key decision-maker with the final word? Or of what goes into that decision? Are you sure the technology itself is even within the grasp of this individual? Does it even need to be? Perhaps what matters for them is simplicity, ease of use, an instant sense of reliability and effectiveness: impact. Often, it’s not until much further down the line that verification of the tech offer is sought – usually by someone else, long after the important decision has been made. It’s no coincidence that so many tech businesses only thrive when they become human, literally, in the form of a meeting or presentation. If that’s the only time your “brand” is alive – then you don’t have a brand at all.
The fact is that many businesses in the tech sector focus their communications around dry, technical language set against a visual backdrop of technology cliches or familiar-looking process diagrams. Whilst it might be a necessity to articulate the nitty gritty of a technology, platform or service somewhere, this is often given priority at the expense of the wider, more human and beneficial story. Complexity stymies simplicity. Many businesses are missing the opportunity to connect their brand with customers in a much more powerful way.
So what can (great) branding do for you:
— Revolutionise credibility
— Influence the big decisions people are making about your company
— Improve your talent acquisition
— Support your business strategy
— Radically alter morale and engagement internally
— Increase business leads and new business / revenue
— Inform strategic decisions
— Bring stability and reassurance through demanding times
— Drive IPO or sales valuations higher
— Change the future.
Most wealth management firms have an ageing client base, predominantly those over 60 years old (baby boomers) and over 75s – the silent generation. To combat this, they target their acquisition activity to wealthy investors of 45 years old (generation x) and over.
The conventional thinking is that 45-55 is the age when people have already established their own wealth and are likely to start inheriting from their baby boomer parents.
Conventional thinking also dictates that millennials (26-41 year olds) are mostly too financially squeezed to meet the threshold of an attractive prospect for wealth management services.
This conventional thinking has held true for the past 100 years.
But these are unconventional times.
“…the number of UK millennial and generation Z millionaires has doubled in the past year…”
Research by the Bowmore Wealth Group in February 2022 reports that the number of UK millennial and generation Z millionaires has doubled in the past year. The research also shows a 28% increase in millennial and Gen Z taxpayers declaring income over £150,000. This is largely due to a surge in pay for workers in tech/fintech and a boom in millennial entrepreneurship. The number of younger high-earners working in areas such as sport and social media influencing is also rising.
Much has been said about the projected intergenerational wealth transfer. The narrative is that globally baby boomers will pass on between $30tn and $68tn (depending on which report you read) of their wealth to their millennial children within the next 10-20 years.
But there is growing evidence that the wealth transfer is skipping a generation. The silent generation are passing their wealth to their millennial grandchildren, and Gen Z are inheriting from their baby boomer grandparents.
And this wealth is dropping on a generation that seems to have a greater propensity to invest than their parents, according to surveys by Finder.com and the Royal Mint.
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You’d think that wealth management companies are well positioned to capitalise on this opportunity. Surely they can parley their long-held relationships across to the inheriting generations? Apparently not.
“…only 13% of affluent investors choose to work with the same advisor their parents used…”
Research by Cerulli Associates reports that only 13% of affluent investors choose to work with the same advisor their parents used. Among the remaining 87%, a whopping 88% of them said they never even considered doing so. The impact of this is seemingly dramatic. Accenture reports that wealth managers expect to lose, on average, one-third (32%) of their client’s wealth at the point of succession. That’s an estimated outflow of $1.5tn per annum.
It’s little wonder that the wealth management sector is struggling with this tide of change. Industry figures show that the average age of wealth advisors is rising to around the high 50s, with only 11.7% under the age of 35.
“…the average age of wealth advisors is rising to around the high 50s…”
The received wisdom about millennial and Gen Z prospects, meanwhile, is that they’re more self-directed than older generations, and demand technology that enables them to take control over their finances. They have a wealth – pun intended– of information at their fingertips, and in many respects consider themselves more knowledgeable than their advisor (in 64% of cases, according to Accenture research).
An Accenture poll of millennials highlights the stress this generation gap places on trust, which is essential in a relationship-centric business. 57% of respondents perceived their advisor to be motivated by their own earnings alone – as opposed to the client’s financial success – and less than a third of them felt their advisor took the time to get to know them. Combined with the fact that 51% of them agreed with the statement: “I try to avoid situations where people tell me what to do,” it’s clear advisors have their work cut out for them.
So, can wealth management firms ride the storm? Or is the writing on the wall? Recent research suggests the former – and the storm may not be as overwhelming as it seems.
In 2022 Natixis surveyed 8,550 millennials globally with a minimum of $100,000 in investable assets. The results ran against prevailing perceptions, showing that robo-advice has only captured a small percentage of the market.
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The research concludes that a primary reason for this lies in the fact their lives become more complex as they turn 30, and they look for personal advice, either as a sole source, or as part of a blended approach to their finances.
Technology is a core enabler of these relationships, providing ease of access and transparency of information combined with multi-channel lines of communication between client and advisor.
While, according to Accenture, most millennials are confident in their own knowledge of holdings and investments, 59% of them want education on financial basics like cashflow and budgeting, with an equal focus both on short-term and long-term goals.
Millennials will also be experiencing one of the most dramatic periods of volatility they’ve seen as investors, with 48% of respondents focused on risk management over a fund’s ability to beat the benchmarks (26%) when selecting investments.
The generalisation that millennials are champions of impact investment is also challenged. While 78% considered their wealth as an extension of their values, and 52% said they were interested in ESG (environmental, social and governance) investments, only 27% said they were currently invested in ESG funds. And though a Schroders study shows that the majority UK millennial investors are driven by their personal beliefs, 20% of them would actually compromise those beliefs if the returns were high enough.
Time to advertise outside the box?
These statistics combine to show that it’s risky to approach millennials using commonly held generalisations and assumptions about generational differences. They’re just like any other investor, just at a different life-stage. Indeed, Accenture segment their millennials-focused research panels into very recognisable attitudinal personas.
“…it’s risky to approach millennials using commonly held generalisations and assumptions about generational differences…”
Sure, millennials can be driven by values, but not all of them are. And their parents are just as likely to make ESG investments as they are.
Yes, the research shows that, when asked, millennials don’t like being told what to do. But who does? A good wealth manager works together with their clients – something that UBS reflect so well in their core proposition as we saw in our first article.
Certainly, a large proportion of inheritors sack their parent’s advisor. But that’s not because they want specialist millennial-tailored advice. It’s because they were excluded from the conversation – ignored – just as we found women were in our previous article.
Millennials are information-hungry, goal-driven and ask a lot of questions, as do women. But is that so different to the rest of the investor population? Again, goals and questions are central to the well-considered UBS narrative. It certainly doesn’t marginalise anyone. It’s an inclusive and contemporary attitude.
And as for that old trope that millennials are different because they’re digital natives – well, we’ve actually reached a point of societal digital maturity. We all expect digital service. There’s no such thing as a digital offering that’s just for millennials.
Good digital communications and experiences are effective when they work with the strengths of the medium and are driven by common heuristic behavioural principles.
The key, we believe, to attracting a millennial audience is to apply the same approach UBS has successfully applied to attracting women:
In our opinion, Schroders Personal Wealth comes the closest to achieving this.
The use of the word ‘dreams’ in the opening narrative of the website is clever. Dreams are more emotive than ‘goals’. They’re less pragmatic and dry. You dream about the future. But it’s an inclusive word – and not a sole preserve of the young. Our dreams may change as we get older, but they become no less potent.
There are some digitally savvy touches too. The online profiling tool and Trustpilot rating should appeal to millennials. But again, they won’t exclude the wider audience– these are things we’re all familiar with. They’re very appropriate for the medium, but their use on a wealth management site makes the firm feel fresh and down to earth in its approach.
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Scroll down the homepage and you’ll find the succinctly put proposition. Unlike most wealth management propositions which steadfastly talk about what they do, Schroders project the way they think. Their attitude. Their purpose. This makes them feel distinctive, fresh and contemporary. It will certainly resonate with a millennial audience, but again it’s inclusive of other generations.
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All of this is quite subtle and, taken at face value it could be seen as the application of afresh image for a generalist wealth management firm. But dig a little deeper, and you can see that the firm has definitely included millennials as an integral part of their strategy.
MoneyLens is a website from Schroders aimed specifically at millennials and Gen Z. It provides jargon-free articles about investing and saving money, all written and run by a group of young professionals working at Schroders. This crucially gives the site credibility and helps it avoid any hint of patronising cynicism – which tends to be another product of conventional thinking.
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We covered Schroders in our first article in this wealth management marketing series, in which we analysed the effectiveness of a number of brand advertising campaigns. The campaign we looked at didn’t reflect the proposition and tone that Schroders more recently achieves. Our analysis concluded that this campaign likely had very little effect on brand awareness due to its messaging, reach and frequency.
In our opinion, the current messaging would work well for Schroders if they decided to put some advertising weight behind it, positioning them effectively in the mid-market with added millennial appeal.
With Schroders at the premium end with an inclination towards women, and ABRDN catering across the board to the mass-affluent, there’s certainly room in the market for more a millennial-centric approach – and it’s sure to deliver a solid return on investment.
Don’t miss the next part in our wealth management marketing series, coming soon.
In the meantime, if you have any queries about marketing to millennials – or anyone else for that matter – don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team at [email protected]
In part 1 of this series, we looked at the power of brand storytelling in the wealth management sector. In this second part, we’ll explore the first of the audience segments that winning brands need to address as an integral part of their story: women with wealth.
This has been a challenging audience for the male-dominated wealth management industry to address. But it is an increasingly important segment for wealth managers to address, both in their marketing, and as part of their business model. Here’s why:
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“…43% of the global high-net-worth population are women…”
This wealth is being generated by more women in leadership roles, female entrepreneurs and female-led businesses. There is also a growing proportion of intergenerational wealth being passed to women, and the statistics show that many of them inherit between the age of 25-35. (source: BCG Global Wealth)
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Across the board, Boston Consulting Group found that younger generations of women are taking control of their financial interests.
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However, only two out of five women say they are confident making financial decisions, despite evidence showing that when women are deciding on investments, they often spend more time researching and gathering information than men.
Despite this growing opportunity, according to Ernst and Young, 73% of UK women feel their adviser misunderstands their goals or cannot empathise with their lifestyle. Consequently, the research found that 62% of women are willing to consider switching to another adviser compared with 42% of men.
“…70% of widows sacked their adviser after their husband’s death…”
The most profound of these statistics comes from Boston Consulting Group who found that 70% of widows sacked their adviser after their husband’s death.
So why is this?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that these women might prefer a female advisor, but that’s not necessarily the case.
Whilst wealth management is still a largely male-dominated sector (although this is changing slowly), according to a survey by Canada’s Strategy Marketing consultancy, only 7% actually wanted a female adviser. Across the board, research studies show that women want advice that demonstrates an understanding of their approach and attitude to investing, as it is distinctly different to men.
“…73% of UK women feel their adviser misunderstands their goals…”
There’s been a lot of research published over the last ten years about what women want from a wealth management service. So it’s surprising to see how slow the industry has been in adopting its findings. Especially considering that the audience makes up 43% of the addressable market. Even more so, when you consider how relatively simple it is to understand and address their needs.
Fundamentally women, unlike men, are not interested in investment performance for its own sake. UBS reports that women are more interested in what the money is for, rather than how it is invested. For them, it’s not a competitive pursuit in which data shows how much you’re winning or losing. Investing, for the majority of women, is about achieving their own personal goals.
Boston Consulting Group research summarised these goals as:
The specifics of these goals will change at different points throughout their life.
An overwhelming majority of women want their investments to benefit people, society and the planet. The Center for Talent Innovation (now Coqual) report that 88% of women want to invest in organisations that promote social wellbeing.
Along with these specific goals and aims, women’s mindsets are an important consideration. This means building trust is essential when advertising to women. The WealthyHer report found that:
“…88% of women want to invest in organisations that promote social wellbeing…”
So how are wealth management brands reflecting these facts in their brand story? For us, there are two leaders.
First, let’s look at UBS. They have applied a goal-orientated approach to their brand story, using the ‘questions’ narrative we discussed in Part 1 of this blog series across the customer journey. The photography gives a sense that they are talking to both men and women. The goals and questions raised feel like they apply naturally to anyone. It never feels forced, contrived or patronising.
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Having made their brand story broad and inclusive, they also create a specific journey for women. This includes advice services, online content, resources and communities aimed specifically at them.
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ABRDN is the second leader, in our opinion. Whilst UBS is subtle and understated in its application, ABRDN is incredibly direct and concise. First, with sustainable investment as its headline message, it taps into the zeitgeist, particularly for women, as the research shows.
But then, look at the body copy. The core points from the research are all addressed. Again, this never feels contrived, forced or patronising. The brand has achieved an egalitarian position, equally appealing to men and women, young and old.
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There are a growing number of niche wealth management companies aimed specifically at women, notably Independent Women, Wealth for Women, Women’s Wealth, Eva Wealth in the UK.
However, with increasing competition in the market, we expect to see more brands adopt a more inclusive narrative in their brand stories. The big test will, of course, be whether the service they offer lives up to their brand promise. Walking the talk will definitely be more challenging than creating the story.
“…we expect to see more brands adopt a more inclusive narrative in their brand stories…”
While we can’t necessarily help you practice what you preach consistently, we can certainly help you market to women. Our team of experts can advise you on inclusive storytelling, advertising campaigns and so much more. Get in touch by emailing [email protected]
And don’t miss the next blog in our Wealth Management series, all about marketing to millennials.
Digital Gaggle, the best inbound conference for marketers in the South West, returns on Thursday 13th October to the Watershed in Bristol with tickets now on sale.
Turn your digital marketing strategy into a roaring success with inspiration from a bumper line-up of industry experts speaking on topics like SEO, social media, CRO, Analytics, UX, Strategy, Creative and more:
Visual Search – Tools and Tactics | Crystal Carter, Head of SEO Communications at Wix
The Mad Science of Data-Driven Creativity | Richard Cook, Social Media Manager at Monzo
Get Paid To Do Nothing with Marketing Automation | Andy Thornton, Senior HubSpot Executive at Noisy Little Monkey
Google Analytics 4 | Jill Quicks, Analytics Consultant and Trainer at The Colouring In Department
How Not To Be A Git. Data Ethics In Digital Marketing | Rowenna Fielding, Professional Data Protection Nerd at Miss IG Geekd
If you’re an in-house marketer looking to meet new people in the industry, snag best practice advice, and get the creative juices flowing ahead of your next marketing campaign, Digital Gaggle is the event for you.
Here’s what previous Gaggle attendees had to say about the day.
“Great energy. Lovely welcoming crowd of like minded souls. Interesting speakers”
“Different kind of vibe, expert speakers, talks not too long, great randomised networking”
“Genuinely interesting and interactive talks full of the latest trends and ideas to take home”
A limited number of tickets are on sale with 30% off until Friday 30th September.
🔜 Bag your place before tickets sell out.
This is the first of a four-part series on marketing in the wealth management sector. In later instalments we’ll be looking at approaches to target women with wealth, millennials and summarising some key marketing trends to remain relevant. In this first episode we look at brand building in a changing, increasingly competitive market.
Wealth management marketing is a challenging specialism. There’s a reason so many firms have traditionally kept a low profile, growing organically through word-of-mouth, targeted sponsorships or by acquiring their competitors. By definition, wealth management services are aimed at people who have so much money that they need help managing it. That’s not necessarily something you want to shout about. It’s something you talk about discreetly.
But, as the market becomes more competitive, and the mass-affluent segment grows, some wealth management firms are turning to advertising to grow their brand and stand out from the crowd – with varying degrees of success.
To have any lasting commercial impact, brands need a good story, told consistently over time. In this article we look at the creative storytelling of four recent wealth management brand campaigns and how they’ve impacted on each firm’s share of brand search.
But before we start, it’s worth briefly exploring what makes a good brand story, and how long it takes to take effect on a commercial level.
What makes a good brand story?
A well-crafted brand narrative creates a strong emotional link between what the brand stands for (why it exists) and the motivations and values of its customers.
“…the customer is always the main character…”
While the brand is one of the characters in the story, the customer is always the main character, and the story structure is easy to follow and remember.
How long does it take for a brand story to have lasting commercial impact?
Les Binet and Peter Field’s The Long and Short of It is widely regarded as the industry benchmark for brand effectiveness. Their findings conclude that emotional brand building typically takes a minimum of six months to show any commercial results, and lasting results accumulate over the course of two to three years, delivering nearly twice the effect of rational direct marketing by year three.
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“…emotional brand building typically takes a minimum of six months to show any commercial results…’
Now that we’ve established the importance of brand storytelling, the emotional impression we’re looking to make and the anticipated time frame, let’s look at some examples of wealth management campaigns.
1. UBS
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In the first of our four examples, UBS has told the most consistent story, investing in it over time since its launch in 2015 to the present day.
The narrative is deceptively simple and classic in structure, and the central character is the client. As with all good stories, there’s a conflict expressed through the key headline question, which is escalated with further questions. The story peaks with the campaign line “For some of life’s questions, you’re not alone” and resolves with a strong call to action.
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The use of rhetorical questions elevates the brand narrative from the standard argument that wealth managers know how to doit better than you, to a much more subtle, sophisticated idea that you’re an intelligent investor with questions which UBS can help you find the answers to.
Using questions to highlight pain points also creates an extremely flexible campaign, enabling the narrative to consistently connect with a diverse set of life circumstances from selling a business, to retirement, sustainable investing and intergenerational wealth transfer.
The campaign has been globally executed, targeting sophisticated investors at the higher end of the market, across digital and print channels including LinkedIn, Bloomberg, FT, The Economist, Monocle and Forbes.
2. ABRDN
Watch the video in the blog here.
The brand launch campaign for ABRDN targets the mass-affluent market and cleverly side-steps any negative perceptions of greed and personal wealth by elevating the story’s theme to ‘investment as a force for good’. Everything about it, from the story and tone of voice to the choice of people depicted, shifts the focus from services aimed at the affluent elite to wealth that benefits everyone.
The story memorably highlights the positive effects your investments can have on society, peaking with the line ‘when your investments do good things, so can you’. This completes the story arc, showing how your investments can both benefit society and your own life. The final line “we are millions of people with billions of pounds, and together we are changing our future” connects the brand with the audience with an inclusive, positive payoff.
Still running today, the integrated campaign launched in November 2021 across TV, out of home, radio, press, digital advertising, social and PR. Thanks to its really clear, well-conceived story, the campaign has made a strong impact in a relatively short space of time.
3. BREWIN DOLPHIN
Watch the video in the blog here.
Brewin Dolphin launched a national TV campaign in mid-2021, which was clearly aimed at a mass-affluent market who were new to the concept of wealth management. It ran until the announcement of its sale to RBC in March 2022.
The advert’s message is to trust Brewin Dolphin with your investments rather than relying on your gut instinct – which can, of course, be risky. It’s a generic wealth management message with no real emotional connection.
The ad starts with some cute, attention-grabbing animals depicting the different types of investor: “the market-dip jumper, the finance-phobic plan dodger, and the follow-the-hype type.” An attempt, perhaps, at persuading the audience to think twice about their habits.
But it could be argued that rather than creating an emotional connection, this opening narrative alienates the audience by implying that their decision making isn’t especially good. At best, the segue from the opening animals into a dolphin for the end conclusion might enhance awareness of the Brewin Dolphin name – and in the absence of a compelling brand story, the creative team might have had little else to work with.
4. SCHRODERS
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Schroders Personal Wealth launched a six-week ad campaign across print and tube adverts in November 2019, with the aim of challenging public perception about financial advice. They launched the campaign based on their own research, which found that 21% of consumers would rather visit the dentist than speak to a financial adviser. The objective was to make financial planning more accessible and appealing to people in the UK.
Similar to Brewin Dolphin, the core message was that trusting your own instincts can lead to questionable conclusions, whereas Schroders can help you make the right investment decisions.
The lead headline poses a maths question. The body copy then goes on to say that most people (and by implication, you) get the answer wrong. Schroders can help you ‘understand your own mind’ and ends with an invitation to take an investIQ test.
I don’t know for certain, but I’m pretty sure that a large percentage of the UK population would also prefer to visit a dentist than solve a maths question and take an IQ test. So, for me at least, it fails to reach the aim of making financial planning more accessible. There’s a good chance it makes it even less accessible, in fact.
What impact did these campaigns have on brand salience?
Our critique of the four brand stories above has been subjective. On face value, Brewin Dolphin and Schroders appear to have struggled to create a compelling narrative that creates a memorable, emotional connection with the audience. They fail to subvert the common position that wealth managers are ‘experts you trust your wealth with’. Both campaigns were relatively short lived across a small number of channels, which, based on the research by Binet and Field, would suggest that any impact on brand salience would be limited.
“…a well-crafted brand narrative creates a strong emotional link between what the brand stands for (why it exists) and the motivations and values of its customers…”
UBS and ABRDN, on the other hand, appear to have elevated the brand promise through classic storytelling principles, promoted consistently thanks to a committed investment in a balanced portfolio of channels.
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The Google Trends chart above provides us with objective data to base these judgements on, showing the relative volumes of UK brand searches for the four firms over a two-year period.
UBS (the yellow line) shows a consistently higher share of brand search over Brewin Dolphin (red) and Schroders (green), reflecting the effectiveness of the campaign with a steady investment overtime. ABRDN (blue) shows a swift incline in brand searches which they’ve sustained since the brand’s launch. In comparison, the red and green lines of Brewin Dolphin and Schroders show no discernible impact, which indicates that the creative story didn’t resonate at the time and the investment was short lived. The peak in Brewin’s volumes match the time when the sale to RBC was announced, so this is almost certainly a PR spike rather than a brand response.
So what can we learn from these examples?
While it’s still relatively early days for wealth management brand advertising, the trend certainly won’t decline as the market gets more competitive. It’s clear from these early movers that successful entrants will need to develop their own compelling brand narratives and invest in them consistently to see any significant commercial returns. It’s not a game for dabblers, as winning will require significant commitment. But the returns are potentially substantial. It will be interesting to see which of the other firms in the market grasp the nettle and seriously enter the fray.
Stay tuned for the next article on women with wealth – the second part of our wealth management marketing series.
If you’d like to explore your brand story or create a compelling campaign, get in touch with our marketing team by emailing [email protected]
– Flourish becomes Harbour Collective’s dedicated CRM specialist agency
– With a heritage in direct marketing, Flourish has helped brands like Samsung, Twitch, Coca-Cola and Nissan to revolutionise their approach to customer communications
LONDON, 5th September 2022 – Brand communication consultancy Harbour has today announced the addition of CRM agency Flourish to Harbour Collective, its collective of 12 specialist independent agencies and 500+ experts.
Flourish will now become the collective’s dedicated CRM specialist agency.
Headquartered in Bristol and with teams in London and Dubai, Flourish was founded in 2004. With a heritage in direct marketing, the CRM specialist agency has helped brands like Samsung, Twitch, Coca-Cola, Nissan and Crisis to revolutionise their approach to customer communications.
Harbour Collective’s group of independent agencies work together on multiple shared clients to combine skillsets across data and insight, media, content creation, engagement, experience, and delivery.
Ian Reeves, Managing Director, Flourish, said: “We’re genuinely delighted to join Harbour Collective as the group’s CRM specialist agency. Traditionally Flourish and our client partners have been brave and ambitious, and we believe joining Harbour Collective is a reflection of this. As part of a collective we can extend our offering of genuine sector expertise, stand apart from network and integrated agencies and open up a world of further complementary possibilities.
“Meeting with the Harbour team, it was immediately obvious that we speak the same language, prioritising the impactful and the pragmatic. We know our clients will instantly be able to benefit from being part of the wider group and we look forward to supporting existing Harbour Collective clients in enhancing their CRM strategies, capabilities and programmes.”
Paul Hammersley, Managing Partner, Harbour, added: “The understanding and management of customer journeys and experience are key parts of today’s marketing plans, so it’s essential that we have this capability at the heart of our offering. Flourish are one of the best independent agencies in this space, with an impressive leadership team, a strong client base and an excellent skillset across strategy, creative and media, making them the ideal CRM partner for Harbour Collective.”
About Harbour
Harbour is an independent brand communication consultancy that sits at the heart of a collective of specialist agencies. It was launched in 2017 by Paul Hammersley (Managing Partner) who was joined by Mick Mahoney (Creative Partner) and Kev Chesters (Strategy Partner) in 2019. Its unique structure and client offering are designed as a contemporary alternative to the large legacy agency groups. Clients include McCarthy Stone, Tilney Smith & Williamson, The Athletic, BT, Match.com, Fitbit and John Lewis.
https://harbour.london
About Flourish
Flourish is a specialist CRM Agency, focused on the development and delivery of data-driven and creative communications and content in the B2C, B2B, B2G and NFP sectors. Based in Bristol, UK, the business opened its doors in March 2004. Since then, Flourish has extended its footprint with teams in both London and Dubai to support regional economic growth and a Global client portfolio.
With a heritage in Direct Marketing, Flourish has sector-leading CRM expertise, focusing on driving action at every stage in the Customer Journey, whilst acknowledging individual customers’ needs and circumstances. Flourish has helped brands like Samsung, Twitch, Coca-Cola, Nissan and Crisis revolutionise their approach to customer communications and, in-turn, maximise lifetime value through a blend of data, technical and activation solutions across a range of audiences, channels and touchpoints.
If you’d like to discuss how Flourish could help your business maximise the value of your customer audience then reach out to Ian Reeves via email on [email protected]