TUESDAY 15 DEC 2020 4:31 PM

MAJORITY OF ASSET MANAGER’S BRAND INTEREST DECLINE FOR SECOND YEAR RUNNING, REPORT REVEALS

A report into the integrated marketing communications performance of the asset management industry reveals that the majority of the largest asset managers worldwide faced a second consecutive year of declining interest in their corporate brands.

The Global 100 report, published by Peregrine Communications, collates over 12,000 data points across firms’ core integrated marketing communications (IMC) activities, weighing, scoring and ranking them against their industry peers through ten key metrics including brand awareness, paid media, brand momentum and media sentiment. Analysing this data, the report found that more than 50% of the world’s largest asset managers saw no improvement or an outright decline in organic Google search volumes for their brands during the research period. This compared to 61% in 2019, demonstrating it is a longer-term trend and not purely driven by Covid-19.

The report also revealed that despite the need to move communications online and find agile responses to Covid-19, many firms have dialled back their digital activity, with the average LinkedIn engagement standing at only 26% of last year’s average.

“Evidence suggests that many firms may be suffering from ‘Covid content overload’ as well as ‘Zoom fatigue’. As online meetings have replaced in-person ones, average digital engagement has fallen off a cliff,” said Anthony Payne, CEO of Peregrine Communications. “As with our research last year, we continue to find a worrying number of firms whose brand awareness is stagnant or declining and for whom 2020 has been yet another reminder of the vital importance of revitalizing brands and corporate stories within a defined IMC strategy.”

The report is intended to provide a window into asset management industry trends, while highlighting the most useful case studies and emerging best practices.