Brief

H/Advisors Cicero initially conducted a reputation audit on behalf of Columbia Threadneedle to benchmark awareness, engagement and sentiment among key stakeholder groups and identify potential barriers to business growth. We conducted depth interviews with key stakeholder groups, including strategic partners; institutional investors/wholesale fund selectors; investment consultants; media/trade press and ratings agencies.

An outcome of the audit was the objective to promote Columbia Threadneedle’s voice in the marketplace on macro-themes and brand profile globally with investors and intermediaries via thought leadership-led marketing and PR campaigns across the UK, Italy and Germany.

Strategy and execution

H/Advisors Cicero conducted a pan-European survey on 6,000 end-investors and savers in the UK, Italy and Germany. We devised a strategic message around generational differences in attitudes to savings and investments to help drive engagement via thought leadership and media activities. This work was supplemented with a further survey to capture views in a post Covid-19 world.

Result

We created a flagship report for each market, encompassing the end-to-end copywriting, translation and digital design for each market.

We produced a number of messaging documents to fuel press outreach and supported the drafting of press releases, which generated widespread press coverage in key markets across the UK, Germany and Italy (including tier 1 coverage in The Times and Financial Times).

Having designed supporting infographic content for social channels, we also ran a paid advertising campaign across LinkedIn and Twitter, targeting wholesale intermediaries and fund selectors. This campaign achieved an above industry benchmark click through rate (CTR) and engagement rate.