Branding – the mask or the ventilator? Top 3 Brand Takeaways from 2020

We’ve seen the rise and fall of brands based on their ability to adapt, prove social purpose and unite clients, staff and the community.

In this article, we take a look at the importance of branding within the financial sector and ask, is branding simply the mask of an organisation, or the ventilator, helping it to survive?

Just over a year ago, New Model Adviser® released their 2019 list of the Top 100 financial planning businesses. What stood out, was how many of these firms had started to take marketing and branding seriously.

This year, strong branding has been the glue holding financial companies, disconnected by Covid, together. It’s not a vanity project either; people are beginning to understand that branding isn’t just about how a company looks and sounds. It’s also about how it feels. And social purpose is a huge part of that.

With a growing trend towards ESG and impact investments, social purpose is clearly also a priority for investors. Financial firms need to reflect this in their brand proposition to avoid alienating the next generation of expectant advisers and clients.

A corporate look and feel, full of staged stock imagery with a tick box CSR policy, doesn’t inspire or compel. On the other hand, a bold and creative look and feel, fuelled by, true stories, real people and purpose-led principles will move people to action.

Brands that embrace this new era of financial branding and brave the move to a story-led approach that showcases their social purpose, will be rewarded at a time of accelerating change.

One of our favourite examples of social purpose is from Vobis who have recently implemented a full rebrand to reflect their ambitions as a leader in the sustainable investing space.

Perhaps more importantly, how brands feel on the inside has a huge impact on how they look and sound on the outside.

With staff working remotely for the foreseeable future, company culture and internal branding is critical to engage employees and in turn, connect clients.

Staff need to feel this same sense of purpose; to feel part of something bigger. Knowing what an organisation stands for and being crystal clear on the company’s values helps to motivate staff that are distanced from what was previously the heart of the organisation; the office.

Strong internal branding connects teams with a common focus which increases morale, productivity and creativity. It also reduces the risk of maverick activity which can destroy a brand’s reputation.

Ascot Lloyd’s ‘Here to Help’ Christmas campaign showcases the power of internal branding to support an external brand. The firm of Independent Financial Advisers were looking for a way to bring staff together after 9 months of remote working. They had heard anecdotally how staff were going above and beyond to support clients and communities through Covid.

So we helped them craft a digital storybook to showcase these incredible stories. This storytelling approach also gave Ascot Lloyd the opportunity to show a softer side to their business; sharing the care and compassion behind the corporation. It allowed the brand to showcase their true assets (their teams) and to reveal the human side of a large organisation coping with the pandemic, just like everyone else. The campaign was very well received and demonstrated the impact that internal branding can have externally.

Staff and clients are concerned about their impact on the planet. A digital client proposition can play a huge role in reducing your carbon footprint. Even the basics, cutting out paper and unnecessary travelling will more than halve your overall environmental impact.

I was asked to speak at Adviser Tech LIVE and the Tech Emporium series, on the importance of brand building to help IFAs and Wealth Managers future proof their firms for the next generation of potential clients employees.

The key message is that brands who embrace technology will thrive. Not just now, when the pandemic requires it, but long into the future when the great wealth transfer will push children of today’s clients to re-evaluate their parents’ advisers and how they feel about the social impact of their investments.

The moneyinfo app is a brilliant example of how fintech can help advisers re-engineer their business processes around digital. Covid has accelerated a huge surge in usage driven by the need to communicate effectively and securely with clients when face to face is not available, post doesn’t function and email is scammed. Monthly messages sent via the app increased 550% between Feb and November 2020 and total logins trebled. Apps like moneyinfo aren’t just bridging the Covid-induced communication gap, they are enabling firms to build a relationship with the next generation of clients and thus future proofing their business.

In a year of uncertainty, one thing is certain. Future clients and advisers want tech. And they want purpose. The brands who embrace this in their branding, will be the brands we remember now and the firms we want to do business with in the future.  As Darwin said “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”