This could be hard. Still, let’s give it a try.
Here’s something: if there’s one negative perception the financial services industry doesn’t deserve, it’s the perception that it’s stuck in a rut and reluctant – or unable – to innovate.Â
This isn’t going to work very well, because I have to put all this in rather vague and general terms, but here is a list of some of the jobs in the creative department at the moment:
-Â brand identity and launch communication for a new business with a completely new product idea, launching into the IFA market in the autumn
-Â the first-ever advertising campaign for a leading wealth management organisation that has so far relied entirely on its advisers on the ground to build awareness and generate business
-Â a global advertising campaign to help pull together a professional services firm that has previously operated on a purely “multi-local” basis
-Â a brand development project for a large mutual insurance company undergoing a broad-scale restructuring
-Â brand and communications work for a large mortgage lender looking to redefine and focus its position in the intermediary market
-Â two branding and launch communications programmes for two major life companies planning new initiatives in the offshore market
-Â the first UK consumer awareness campaign on behalf of a very large international financial services group
-Â merger communications for the introduction of what is about to become the leading player in the investment platforms market
as well as a whole bunch of relatively business-as-usual campaigns, websites, literature items and so forth for a long list of clients who aren’t actually reinventing their businesses just at the moment.
True, to some extent the work-in-progress list could be said to highlight the fact that agencies like this are very dependent on change in the marketplace. Change creates work for businesses like us. By definition, at any given moment, our active client base is going to consist of a lot of organisations that are experiencing change.
But even so, despite this natural bias, I still think it’s fair to say that people in the financial services industry deal with more change than most other industries and – probably as a result – deal with it a good deal more calmly and competently.
There. And you thought I couldn’t write a piece without grumbling about something.
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