Tom Burroughes
LondonGroup Editor , Family Wealth Report
7 June 2012
Daily News Analysis
In today’s turbulent economic conditions it has never been more important for wealth managers to get their message across and a strong brand identity is crucial even if it can be difficult to define.
The importance of effective branding and marketing, and strong communication with clients, was the theme of a recent 90-page report, Reaching Out To The High Net Worth, authored by this publication’s deputy group editor, Wendy Spires, and published in association with Coutts.
Last week, members of the editorial team, including Spires and Stephen Harris, managing director of ClearView, which publishes this website, spoke about the report and its importance at Coutts’ London headquarters in the Strand. Others who spoke to a select audience of industry professionals were Ian Ewart, head of products, services and marketing at Coutts; Paul Drummond, founder and group commercial director of Quintessentially, the global concierge firm and Mark Ellis, managing director, Syzygy, an “ideas agency for the digital age.” Also speaking was Sarah Wyse, head of marketing strategy at Coutts, who spoke about the bank's recent brand revitalization.
Outlining the report – but not giving all the contents away so as to encourage people to read it – Spires explained how a notable upturn in spending by wealth managers on branding and marketing had sparked an interest in the topic. Coutts itself, for example, has recently revitalized its brand. Spires explained that a brand can sometimes be summarized like this: “Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” While a simple comment, Spires said, it captures the issue of how brand is a complex issue of intangible things that might be associated with how a firm appears to a potential client. In framing the report, she described, for example, how she had asked her colleagues (including the writer of this article) which wealth management firm they would choose if they had suddenly come into a large fortune. As Spires went on to explain, the answers were very revealing, not least because in some cases, some people were unable to give a definite answer.
Details on how to get a copy of the report follow...
