The latest advertising campaign from Barclays Global Investors Canada has investment advisors asking about the flaws in the Canadian investment landscape.
With past advertising efforts, Barclays focused on promoting its “iShares” exchange traded funds (ETFs) program, explained David Rosenberg, creative director and senior vice-president at Bensimon Byrne, Barclays’ Canadian agency. But this year the Barclays decided to shift its focus after hosting a global repositioning strategy conference, made up of agency partners from around the world in 2006.
The new national effort speaks out against the status quo in the Canadian investment landscape—questionable product design, hidden costs, tax inefficiencies and incomplete advice—and challenges others in the industry to do the same, said Rosenberg.
“The campaign was developed to generate awareness and raise questions that would provoke thinking and advocate for more truth, clearer investment decisions and responsible actions on the part of all industry players,” said Heather Pelant, head of exchange traded products at Barclays Canada, in a release.
The “Asking the Right Questions” campaign consists of 30-second TV ads on BNN, radio spots, ads in financial trade and newspaper publications, magazines, and online.
The creative asks questions like: “Your client has high expectations for their portfolio. Do you work on boosting returns without discussing risk?” “Your clients’ funds aren’t doing as well as their benchmarks. How concerned are you?” and “Your client is asked about their asset mix. Would they know the answer?”
Rosenberg said the questions should all be relevant to investment advisors in terms of their relationships with their clients and the products they sold.
“If we ask the right questions [investment advisors] will come up with the right answers,” said Rosenberg.
As a part of the PR effort, handled by Narrative (Bensimon Byrne’s PR arm), Barclays sent wallets to the media with an insert that read, “If this wallet was full of cash, would you try to return it to its rightful owner?” The PR effort resulted in half-page story in the “Advisor” section of the Financial Post last week.
The campaign will run until early summer, relaunching in the fall.
