Stronger public image needed

An advisor in the same province with Mississauga, Ont.-based Edward Jones echoes the sentiment: “The perception [among clients] is that we are very small, but we aren’t. We have a very long way to go in terms of branding.”

A “firm’s image with the public” is something that matters to advisors, who gave the category one of the highest overall average importance ratings in the Report Card, at 9.0. In contrast, the category has an overall average performance rating of 8.1. The difference between these two ratings represents a “satisfaction gap” that is tied for third-highest among all categories in the Report Card.

As well, this gap has widened over the past two years, indicating growing concern among advisors that their firms could be doing more in this area.

For the firms rated lowest in the category – Montreal-based National Bank Financial Ltd. (NBF) and Canaccord, which were both rated at 6.6, advisors cited specific problems. In NBF’s case, the issues related to lack of public awareness. As for Canaccord, many advisors said their firm is still in the process of shedding its image as a transactional, penny stock-focused firm.

“The firm has gone through a lot of changes,” says a Canaccord advisor in British Columbia, “and we’re moving more toward conservative wealth management rather than high-risk trading. But there’s still a stigma attached to us.”

To change this perception, Canaccord has begun to advertise its “full wealth-management offering” in The Economist and other relevant publications, explains Stuart Raftus, the firm’s president.

Geographical disparities

At NBF, the lack of public awareness about the firm stems from geographical disparities that still persist, many advisors said. Specifically, an NBF advisor in Western Canada says that the firm isn’t “doing enough to tell our story outside of Quebec.”

However, some NBF advisors may be disappointed to hear that Martin Lavigne, president of NBF’s wealth-management division, says the firm doesn’t make it a top priority to invest in consumer advertising for NBF’s brand. Rather, he says, the firm believes advisors are the best ambassadors for their own distinctive brands.

“A lot of advisors are happy that we don’t advertise much,” Lavigne says. “It gives them the opportunity to tell a different story.”

Toronto-based Richardson GMP Ltd. takes a similar, advisor-focused approach, says Andrew Marsh, the firm’s president and CEO. This, however, is a drastic change from the way things were done at Macquarie Private Wealth Inc., which Richardson GMP acquired in the autumn of 2013.

“One of the biggest differences, really, has been that [Macquarie] was focused on the overall image of the brand,” Marsh says. “But our strategy is to support the advisor; and through them, we know, our corporate brand will grow.”

This approach may have been a shock to some of the former Macquarie advisors, who miss the top-down approach to marketing that their previous firm employed. “Macquarie did a good job getting its name out there, but Richardson GMP is laid back on advertising,” says a Richardson GMP advisor in Ontario. “[The firm’s] brand recognition is one of the things we would like to see improve.”

But it’s not only former Macquarie advisors who feel that way. In fact, a Richardson GMP advisor in Ontario who has been with the firm for more than a decade says that Richardson GMP “is still a ways off from being recognizable on the Street. We need to build that [brand] up.”

Those two themes were echoed by several Richardson GMP advisors, resulting in the firm’s public image rating dropping to 7.6 from 9.3 year-over-year.

Living up to expectations

In contrast, Vancouver-based Odlum Brown Ltd. is living up to its advisors’ lofty expectations, as its public image was rated at 9.4. The firm’s commitment to community involvement is fostering a “great reputation in B.C.” as one Odlum Brown advisor in that province says, adding that “when you meet people and say who you work for, you get a good response.”

Debra Hewson, Odlum Brown’s president and CEO, says the firm has built its strong public image by looking for local or regional charitable organizations that Odlum Brown can maintain partnerships with over time.

“If you’re seen to be active in the community – and I don’t just mean buying a table at an event, but actively participating in an event and trying to help the organization grow, ” she says, “then that’s a good news story for everyone.”

Advisors with Toronto-based RBC Dominion Securities Inc. (DS), also rated their firm’s public image highly, at 9.2. Overall, DS advisors said they’re very pleased with the long-standing strength of their firm’s and parent bank’s respective brands.

“We’re seen as having a strong team of good advisors who are well known,” says a DS advisor in Ontario. “We’re the Blackhawks, not the Leafs. We’re reliable, strong – and trustworthy. Trust means everything. You’re only as good as the clients who believe in you.”

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