Challenge:

Lansons was tasked with creating a campaign which took advantage of the unique and volatile conditions existing within the UK.

Solution:

Our strategy was to focus upon the ‘flight to quality’/ ‘flight to safety’ sentiment, creating a campaign that would position Invesco Perpetual as the asset management ‘house of choice’ for the current crisis and beyond.

We wanted to ensure that Invesco Perpetual provided reassurance to investors during uncertain times by positioning the asset manager as a strong, trusted brand and as an experienced and active fund management house delivering superior long term results.

We also wanted to use this opportunity to increase Invesco Perpetual’s share of the market and become a thought leader.

Implementation:

In the last year, Lansons aggressively targeted relevant news outlets with its internal literature and thought-pieces, thereby using existing material produced by the in-house team and minimising valuable time from the fund managers and other spokespeople.

Lansons ensured the asset manager responded promptly to the news agenda by utilising a diverse range of opportunities including feature pieces and web conferences.

We also issued nine topical comments by John Greenwood (OBE), Chief Economist, on news events. It was immensely important to have a top level view on what was happening in the markets from a respected economist as this helped the media (and therefore their readers) to understand the rapid change of events, successfully positioning Invesco Perpetual as a ‘thought leader’.

The PR team also disseminated IFA-based web conferences to media – encouraging media and advisers to ask questions and challenge.

Outcome:

  • 59 pieces with John Greenwood – these articles alone totalled 18 per cent of the PR generated coverage.
  • 23 placed articles by leveraging written investment material
  • Social media campaign: 5 web conference generating 36 pieces of coverage, including Daily Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, CityAM. Neil Woodford’s web conference in October 2008 was watched by over 2,000 investors.
  • Presswatch evaluation: Invesco Perpetual was rated 1st for press coverage amongst its peers for the whole of 2008, and is consistently in the top three firms for unit trusts and investment trusts on a monthly basis