Pam Hamlin, President, Arnold Worldwide
By Carl Steffens, Adobe Systems
Theme: How to get a decentralized organization with multiple offerings to work more effectively together by going to market as one unified brand.
Fidelity has 6 different lines of business, each with a President and P&L:
Fidelity Management Research
Fidelity Brokerage
Fidelity Life Insurance
Fidelity Employee Services Co
Fidelity Institutional Investor Services
Fidelity Estate & Wealth Management
Fidelity engaged Arnold to help unite the six different businesses in their go-to-market around a single campaign
Issues in designing campaign:
- No unified approach in marketing and communications (shared samples of marketing assets and programs to demonstrate)
- Despite the disconnect, business was going well. Given that, how to get people to make a change? Answer: focus on the opportunity
Fidelity and Arnold identified seven principles to guide the effort:
1) Demonstrate the upside – lifetime customer relationships
- Given the multiple businesses, Fidelity had a chance to engage with customers throughout their lifetimes. Different offerings/vehicles apply at different times
- Opportunity was to help customers move through their financial management “lifetime” by utilizing the various Fidelity products
- Fidelity has significant position in 401k management; this represents a feeder opportunity to the other products where Fidelity’s share was lower
- Industry trends for next 10 years will cause shift of investment products to “income” orientation (such as annuities) from “growth” given aging of boomers
- Social value was also a driver: by helping individuals adequately plan for and provide for retirement, Fidelity can help society. Do good while doing well. Helped people rally around the opportunity.
2) Make it an executive priority:
· Executives were briefed to help reinforce the need for change and the opportunity
1) Develop a platform that embraces all of the business:
· 3-4 month development process including research, concept testing, internal interviews, etc
· Language used and strategy embraced revolved around the “Fidelity Advantage” – which had both rational and emotional components such as confidence in making the right decision
· The tagline “Smart move” emerged – tangible reinforcement of a good decision made
2) Phase the roll-out to get traction:
· Given Fidelity’s size, roll-out had to be phased and incremental
· Phase 1: the investor – new and improved retirement planning tools & processes (Fidelity Retirement Income Advantage)
· The visibility of Phase 1 helped build momentum for other elements/phases
3) Propel excitement – make employees feel proud/engaged
· Created call to action with Paul McCartney tour. Chose McCartney given that he was 60 yrs old yet still performing and reinventing himself
· McCartney would not enter into a simple endorsement deal. He wanted to design the program such that it would have the highest impact; he cared about the outcome.
· Campaign launched within Fidelity with a voice-mail from Paul McCartney to 41,000 employees
· “Music Lives” foundation was created with campaign. Helps educate children in inner cities about music; variety of social benefits. People could make donations as part of Fidelity campaign.
· Also an exclusive CD for Fidelity customers
· Ref: Fidelity commercial with McCartney
4) Seize the moment – involve the entire company in brand building
· Unified brand guidelines, etc.
· Collateral system overhauled
· Merchandising system, retail branches, and web-site redesigned
· This was lens for seeing the multiple businesses have one appearance
5) Winning is a team sport
· Shared results with all employees; made them feel a part of the success of the campaign
Results:
- Fidelity saw a 447% increase in “Net Flows” (new investment vs. withdrawals) from 2003.
- ROI of the campaign was 2.6x.
Four learnings from campaign:
1) Patience: transformations take time. 4 years in the making
2) Conviction – overcoming obstacles
3) Think incrementally – monitor small steps
4) Inspire vs. Mandate – motivate with the upside
Q&A with Bob Liodice, CEO of ANA:
Q: Partnerships: what’s working for Arnold in the client partnership?
A: The two organizations were aligned on the mission from the beginning, made all follow on work easier.
Q: Commitment from the top. Given a CEO + six (6) Presidents, how did they all get aligned?
A: Upside was demonstrated, and the division presidents believed in the opportunity for the company.
Q: Financial services world is highly competitive and somewhat commoditized; how did Fidelity differentiate?
A: Drive, passion, intensity in Fidelity’s DNA to help investors succeed. Arnold worked to translate that passion.
Q: How did the internal organization react to desire for change?
A: Fidelity culture embraces change. People were comfortable and understand that change is often required to stay at the top of industry. Arnold did a lot of listening; emphasized to people that it would help them do their job better.
Q: Did the campaign rely heavily on traditional media?
A: Many of assets shared were television ads, but web-component was very prominent as well. Analysis informed how to reach the different types of customers by media type.
Q: Were other agencies involved, or just Arnold?
A: Fidelity has a large internal organization that Arnold partnered with. Specialized design organization was brought in for some parts as well.
Q: Who owns integration?
A: Primarily owned within Fidelity, but Arnold worked to act as brand steward.
Q: One parting message?
A: Stay focused on customers and insight, and utilize that knowledge to rally internal troops.
Recent Comments