Nobody loves the advertising

The 2002 Brokerage Report Card shows an overall decline in how brokers rate the way their services are promoted. Many brokers think it’s time for their employers to go back to the proverbial advertising drawing board.

There was a significant drop among brokers at bank-owned firms. At TD Evergreen. the ranking slid to 2.4 out of 10 this year from 5.1 last year. At National Bank Financial Inc. the results were worse: 3.8 from 6.8. ScotiaMcLeod Inc. showed the smallest decrease: to 4.3 points from 4.8

Overall, the rating dropped by more than a half-point at every firm except Edward Jones. And only at ScotiaMcLeod did the rating for “public image” actually improve by more than 0.5 points.

On the other hand, many ScotiaMcLeod brokers echoed a complaint about advertising common to many bank-employed brokers: “It just doesn’t have any benefit to the individual advisor.”

These advisors feel lost in the big picture branding in which the big banks engage. “It’s almost non-applicable really,” says a ScotiaMcLeod broker in Alberta. “The advertising is driven off the bank’s global approach.” More specifically, “There’s no image with high net-worth people,” says a colleague.

Some complain the advertising is directed at the banks’ discount operations. For example, one Ontario TD Evergreen broker says, “Because of our association with TD Waterhouse, they spend very little advertising money on us. At the moment it’s crap.”

“It’s crummy,” says another Ontario Evergreen broker.

Advertising directed at last-minute RRSP investing doesn’t seem to benefit individual brokers. “Finding a broker is a non-impulse buy,” says Sam Cukierman, managing partner of Strategic Guidance Consulting Inc. in Toronto. Most bank advertising deals with an umbrella of financial services and the brokerages get buried in it, he says. Brokerages should consider “sub-branding,” he says. More particularly, they have to develop “a strategy that is measurable.”

Confusion can arise when a bank swallows a major brand name, such as CIBC’s purchase of Wood Gundy and its purchase of the Canadian operation of Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. There’s no doubt former Merrill brokers miss the famous Merrill bull. “Compared to Merrill Lynch we’re on different levels,” says one newcomer to CIBC Wood Gundy in Ontario. Says another Ontario rep” “There’s no effort in marketing. Clients are suspect about writing cheques to CIBC World Markets [Inc.] when I work for Wood Gundy.”

On the other hand, the merger is seen as a potential opportunity by some new to the CIBC Wood Gundy fold. “Merrill Lynch sort of thought inside the box. ‘Don’t you dare be creative,’ they said. They weren’t open to new ideas,” says one Ontario broker.

For brokers at National Bank Financial, the concern about establishing a public image is more focused. As employees of a bank-owned brokerage that had its beginnings and maintains its headquarters in Quebec, brokers operating in other parts of Canada don’t feel they have much of a public profile. “We have no image in B.C.,” says one NBF broker in that province. Brokers from First Marathon, acquired by National Bank in 1999, feel they’ve lost their identities. “Since the changing of our name nobody knows us anymore. Our lack of visibility is the best thing for our competitors.”

Former Goepel McDermid brokers have a special concern this year. The firm was acquired by huge U.S. independent, Raymond James Financial Inc., and took on that name. “People [in B.C.] think we’re a hair salon,” says one exasperated B.C.-based Raymond James broker. (There is a chain of hair salons in B.C. known locally as Raymond Salons.)

The other stickler in the Raymond James campaign was that it adopted a slogan that played off the popularity of a U.S. sit-com called “Everybody loves Raymond.” Using the slogan “Everybody loves Raymond James” may have been catchy, but it wasn’t particularly popular among the brokers. “It’s silly,” says a B.C. rep. “It’s dreadful,” says another. “I don’t know how it helps my business.”

Many believe the campaign was really designed to attract new brokers, not clients. Since then, the firm has brought out a new slogan: “You first.” Brokers appear to appreciate its more pragmatic tone.

This kind of confusion shows how an advertising strategy can lack a solid, measurable goal, says Cukierman. A lot of people remember the Spiderman ads, but did it add to AGF’s bottom line?, he asks.

When advertising dollars are slim, it’s better to put them to the benefit of individual advisors instead of the institution, one Raymond James broker told IE. “I do a lot of advertising for myself.”

Barb Powers, a partner with Toronto-based consultants Shake It! Communications, agrees. Since Sept. 11 and the Enron debacle, the ground has shifted from bigger is better, she says. Instead, investors are seeking trust. “The more you go up the investing food chain — from the high net-worth to the ultra high net-worth — the more trust is a factor.”

There may be a very simple solution that would mitigate some brokers’ concerns, she says, and that is improved communications between employer and broker. Often, the brokers are not kept in the loop of their employer’s advertising strategy, Powers says. IE