A geek’s eye view from the bottom
by Claire Nailor
I’ve just been given a copy of Invisible Brand by my colleague with a post-it note saying ‘a little treat for you’. Flicking through it, my hands tremble with the anticipation of an AA member who’s been passed a bottle of vodka. Financial Services dominated? Tick. Advertising and creative content? Tick. Plus it’s got more colours than ten corporate brochures put together. I’m getting overexcited, so peering around me for prying eyes, I carefully stash the mag in my bag to be enjoyed in the privacy of my own home. You see, I have a problem: I’m in Financial Services marketing and I enjoy it.
I’ll give you a few minutes for that to sink in.
It wasn’t the first time I’ve had to admit I have a problem. My dirty secret got outed recently by a family member at a Christmas party. She’s a ‘real’ writer working in an exciting industry and jet-setting all over the world. We got into the usual chat that you have when you’ve got nothing in common apart from vaguely similar careers, and she mentioned she could get me an interview at her company. Lulled into a false sense of security by the kindly offer, seasonal goodwill and one or two festive glasses of mulled wine, I blurted out the shameful truth: that I work in Financial Services and have no desire to leave. I tried to rectify my mistake with the usual excuse of FS paying more (sadly not true), but the damage was done. The relative went to talk to people with less offensive careers, like the guy who develops atomic weapons for a living.
So why does Financial Services get a worse rep than other industries when it comes to marketing? I suppose the answer is obvious. The subject is dry, the products are about as much fun to market as a tooth extractor (although actually, that’s sounding quite attractive...) and the industry is thick with legislation. When attempting to connect with customers it doesn’t help that Financial Services has its own entire ‘secret language’. To entertain myself at my first job after school (stuffing literature into packs for a large life company), I tried to remember all the abbreviations associated with the products. That time has served me well; I can now WPB and USP with the best of ‘em, but unfortunately, fluency in financial Kilingon doesn’t apply to the wider community.
If you do have the inclination to write something interesting, relevant and entertaining, you can bet your life that you’ll have the creativity sucked out of you by the scourge of the marketing world: compliance. These self-appointed TCF warriors are fighting the battle of fairness and clarity in the dirty streets of our markets, and they’re not going to be thwarted by a few catchy advertising campaigns. So, given all these problems, why would anyone want to work in Financial Services marketing?
Well for me, I suppose the things that make the work difficult also make it an interesting challenge. Take our audience for a start – analysing the Financial Services client base, levels of knowledge vary from expert to Average Jo, to runs-and-hides-at-the-mention-of-an-ISA. We went on a training course recently about how the public view financial literature and it was littered with contradictions. For example, the sample of people surveyed wanted terms to be clearly explained, but if they found the tone patronising (heaven forbid) they’d stop reading in an instant. And, although they didn’t want reams of pages giving information on every clause mentioned, they found it irritating to be referred to another brochure.
If you’re writing B2B stuff, your job isn’t much easier. IFAs’ knowledge also varies to a great extent. ‘Surely not!’ I hear you cry, ‘They’re all experts in their field!’ But yes indeedy, shocking as it is, many IFAs stick 100% of their clients’ money into a balanced managed fund because they don’t know one asset class from another. Take my word for it – my second job after school was in sales support, where IFAs screamed down the phone at me for five years. The favourite sales aids in our branch were a poster with a giant bumble bee on the front warning against inheritance tax, and one with a lovely picture of a house advertising property. I think that’s a good indicator of the levels of sophistication.
Finally, if you’re producing material for Fund Groups and the really highbrow end of the industry, you need to take a different tack again. This stuff needs to be sexy, mysterious and reeking of a superior budget. It seems that if you write an article that can be understood by less than 1% of the population, you’re doing well. Think Emperor’s New Clothes or the VIP area of China White; everybody wants in, but they’re not quite sure why. Having said that, the Fund Groups who do it well are certainly at the cutting edge of the industry – Jupiter, Ignis and Gartmore are cases in point.
As for me, I think I’ll take satisfaction from the fact that we’re working in an industry which is pretty important; dealing with peoples’ money, and in turn their hopes and dreams. I also have the smug realisation that every piece of paper I get out into the market has been to hell and back from a legislative perspective. Yep, my third job after school isn’t all bad, but at the next party I think I’ll invent myself a more exciting occupation, like a compliance officer.
By Claire Nailor - Investments Marketing Communications Executive
Mon, 12 Jan 2009
