the power of specialized thinking

Branding + VisualCommunications

n e w s l e t t e r

Published by Makovsky + Company Volume 22/Number 10

S t rategies

The Future of Financial Brandsin a Post-Wall Street WorldSince 1792, it’s been America’s mostvaluable brand name.

Wall Street, the center of the financialworld. Wall Street, the engine of capital-ism. Wall Street, the audaciously merito-cratic hothouse of risk, reward and riches.

Make no mistake, Wall Street is a brandevery bit as specific and as emotionallyresonant to its constituents as Nike orApple or any of the other corporatenames that define our culture.

And for thousands of brokers, advisors,researchers, underwriters and otherindependent financial firms, it’s provideda foundation of trust, confidence andcredibility for their individual brands.

Surviving the aftershocks.

Unfortunately, even before the seismicevents of October 2008, we began to seecracks in the Wall Street brand:

• With all the expenses associated withSarbanes-Oxley, more and more fledg-ling companies are deciding to forgoWall Street money and seek theirfunding in London.

• Sovereign funds, not Wall Street, arepropping up our financial institutions.Singapore invested $9.7 billion in UBS,China $5 billion in Morgan Stanley, andAbu Dhabi $7.5 billion in Citibank.

Does this mean thatWall Street is goingaway? Of course not. “The markets willnot disappear,” Robert Teitelman ofTheDeal.com writes, “just because thewhirlwind has knocked down some

For more information on Makovsky + Company’sBranding + Visual Communications practice, please visitwww.makovsky.com/branding-+-visual-communications/overview.html

storied institutions.” Still, it’s clear that Wall Street’s value as abrand has been severely damaged. And those financialentrepreneurs who have sheltered in its foothills will have tolook for ways to build their own foundations of credibility andtrust. Three recent trends suggest a strategic and tacticalcourse of action.

1. Objectivity = opportunity.

As confidence in big-name brands and institutions decreases,there’s been a marked increase in the flow of both assets toindependent firms. According to a recent Citigroup study,about two-thirds of all new RIA assets are coming from the full-service brokers.

"For many, objectivity is the most attractive feature," explainsAdrian Mastracci, an independent investment counselor."Investors seek a professional who has no financial stake intheir investments."

As always, your brand must offer a clear, compelling valueproposition — but in this environment, independence andobjectivity should become the cornerstones of that proposition.Even the established megabrands are working hard to establishtheir maverick credentials. As a recent TD Ameritrade ad claims,“There’s never been a better time for a second opinion.”

2. Brand processes, not products.

Once upon a time, the ability to offer branded financial productswas considered a sign of leadership. But now…

“Investors are taking a long, hard look at their portfolios and howthey were created," notes Alan Brachfeld of Manhattan-basedindependent KBK Wealth Management. “They want to knowthat their advisor is completely focused on their needs, notsomebody else’s sales goals.”

Given investors’ skepticism and their renewed desire forobjectivity, transparency and accountability, many firms arefinding that a clearly defined and branded planning process isone of their most important marketing tools.

Whether it’s as simple as re-packaging the CFP Board of

Standard’s six-step process, or as elaborate as Lincoln FinancialAdvisors’ graphic methodology (go to lincolnfinancial.com), abranded planning process offers your prospective clientsconcrete proof of your commitment. And allows you to placeany proprietary products you may recommend into a moreclient-centric context.

3. Customization is king.

A consistent brand image has always been one of theprerequisites of a successful marketing program.

Today, however, more and more investors are looking for acustomized brand experience. “Customers simply want apersonal relationship,” says Richard Smith of Financial ServicesTechnology. They expect an acknowledgement of their specificneeds, and solutions tailored to their individual issues at everybrand touchpoint.

How well are these expectations being met? Consider thetypical financial services website. “Deplorable,” Dirk Knemeyer,author, educator, and founder of Involution Solutions puts itbluntly. “Customers are not being brought deeply orcompellingly into the brand experience. The information andinteraction models, the lifeless usability choices, resemble thosethat were in vogue in the late 1990s.”

Clearly, there’s an opportunity here. Thanks to the growth ofopen-source programming and free analytics, it’s relativelyinexpensive to transform even the most static piece ofbrochure-ware into a dynamic, customizable media channel.

Build your own foundation.

The good news is, confidence in The Street has been severelyshaken — but it isn’t fatal. As Robert Teitelman points out, “WallStreet is a set of functions as much as a collection of institutions.The need for those functions hasn’t gone away.”

The bad news is, confidence in The Street has been severelyshaken, and can no longer be trusted to provide a firm foun-dation of trust and credibility for entrepreneurial financial brands.

For the foreseeable future, you’ll have to build it yourself.

Contact Timothy KaneBranding + Visual Communications212.508.9699tkane@makovsky.com

About Makovsky + CompanyFounded in 1979, Makovsky + Company (www.makovsky.com) is today one of the nation’sleading independent global public relations and investor relations consultancies. The firmattributes its success to its original vision: that the Power of Specialized Thinking™ is the bestway to build reputation, sales and fair valuation for a client. Based in NewYork City, the firm hasagency partners in more than 20 countries and in 35 U.S. cities through IPREX, the third largestworldwide public relations agency partnership, of which Makovsky is a founder.

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