Posted: January 25th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Wealth Management | No Comments »
In an effort to capitalize on opportunities in the retirement market, Bank of America Corp. plans to spend between $15 million and $20 million on a new marketing campaign over the next four months.
The “help2retire” campaign, which launched Monday, will include print and television advertising as well as billboards nationally. The print ads will launch this week and the television ads are expected later this month. Bank of America said that the campaign encourages individuals to work with a Merrill Lynch advisor to find areas of their lives that they “wish to put an end to” when they retire.
Among the slogans in the campaign are: Help2Retire confusion surrounding Roth IRA conversions, Help2Retire rush hour, and Help2Retire the rat race.
The company would not say how large a percentage of its overall marketing budget it is spending on this campaign. Read more….
Posted: January 22nd, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Wealth Management | No Comments »
Wealth managers have taken a large revenue hit during the economic downturn. Assets under management fell precipitously during the past year, and clients increasingly placed more of their remaining holdings in low-margin products. At the same time, operating costs increased, as clients demanded more advice and firms tried to counter poor portfolio performance with greater levels of service. As a result, Wealth managers project that 2010 profit margins could fall as much as 75% below their 2007 peak, according to the 2009 Wealth Segment Economics Survey, done by The VIP Forum.
In the past, firms had a steadily growing base of assets under management and could afford to serve clients across a broad range of wealth segments with the same services. However, the crisis starkly revealed the vulnerability of a service model that doesn’t effectively align client value with actual cost-to-serve.
Recent research by The Corporate Executive Board’s VIP Forum, an industry group comprised of wealth-management firms, identified that leading firms have begun to move away from a generic, expensive “one size fits all” model that perpetuates “overservice” towards a more carefully calibrated “give-get” service model. This research also points to the following best-practice strategies for helping wealth managers effectively implement a “give-get” model: Read more…