Case Studies

Investment Manager Rebrand

An investment manager of more than 20 years asked us to help rebrand their company as it slowly changed its business focus. In the past, the firm had served both family offices and private, charitable organizations with financial and investment management, weighted toward the latter. As the firm shifted to become more of a multifamily office, they struggled to tell their story to the families referred to them because they’d become “stuck” in an institutionally focused way of communicating. They were finding that potential family-office clients didn’t understand the value of their services, nor how they managed assets.

A.Z. Communications helped the firm to develop their messages to family offices, simplifying the communication of their business processes with language that would be better understood by this client base. Additionally, we incorporated their new brand messages into a website developed for the firm, as well as into a new pitch presentation book and quarterly market commentary updates.

Equipped with their new messages, materials and “voice” for the firm, our client reported being better able to communicate what they do, and feeling more confident in doing so. They report that the sales materials we developed for them helped close business and brought in more referrals because family offices now better understand the value of their services.

IRA Branding

A new provider of IRAs approached us ready to offer its product on a large broker-dealer platform. The company needed a full suite of launch materials, including a website. While suitable for retirement accounts of all sizes, this IRA product was designed specifically for accounts of less than $100,000 and to be an easy-to-use, cost-effective retirement solution for financial advisors and their clients.

With so many products on the market, we needed to uncover and clearly illustrate the IRA’s value: the how and why the product is an easy-to-use, cost-effective solution. While the product would initially be available only through financial advisors, we needed to appeal to institutional platforms, financial advisors and clients alike, capturing key selling points for each audience. Once we’d established a strong value proposition for both the firm and its new product, we created sales materials for each audience and a website segmented into three separate areas.

The result is a comprehensive yet simple package to launch the product onto a broker-dealer platform. We designed materials to be easily adapted for use with future broker-dealer platforms as the firm expands the product’s availability.

Branding and Communications Plan

An ETF strategist approached us after undergoing significant consolidation at their firm. Several different marketing leads had initiated different campaigns over the years, and the result was a suite of mismatched materials. They needed a new strategy for a consistent brand.

We started with a brand audit, a review of existing and past materials. We asked a lot of questions: What worked? What didn’t? Why? What did they want the firm’s image to be now? And we asked for the opinions of multiple stakeholders to gain different perspectives.

Our next step was to make recommendations and create a brand book, to serve as the foundation of all the firm’s future marketing communications and sales efforts. The brand book would become the guide for creating materials with consistent messaging and visuals. We then launched a new website, pitch book, materials and ongoing communications strategy to reach the firm’s clients and prospects.

The firm’s sales team reports that, because of the consistent outgoing communications, they are able to make more and better-received outgoing calls because their eblast communications have opened doors and proactively answered questions before they were asked. Advisors (clients of the firm) report they have the information they need for their clients, as well as a better understanding of the firm’s investment process and philosophy. Sales and communication have increased for positive results.