NEW YORK (May 10, 2023) – ISS Market Intelligence (ISS MI), a unit of Institutional Shareholder Services and a leading global provider of data, analytics, insights, media, and events solutions to the global financial services industry, today announced the results of its ISS MI Market Metrics Brand Perception and Podcasts Survey, based on interviews of 802 U.S.-based financial advisors. The study, undertaken in March and part of the ongoing Selling Retail Investment Products through Intermediaries research, measures the value advisors place on asset managers’ brands, the attributes and activities that shape brand perception, advisor rankings of asset manager brands, and advisor attitudes toward podcasts.
Notably, the study finds that the five brands identified by advisors as “best-in-class” are American Funds, Vanguard, BlackRock, JP Morgan, and First Trust. Advisors rated trust, performance, and ease of business—in that order—as the three most critical factors in assessing an asset manager’s brand.
Survey findings show that 86 percent of advisors believe a strong brand is an important attribute when recommending asset managers to clients, with wirehouse advisors in particular, at 90 percent, placing value on a strong brand. Nearly a quarter of all advisors assign “extreme” importance to asset managers having a strong brand.
Field wholesalers’ role as brand emissaries in the intermediary channels cannot be understated, with the study finding that nearly 60 percent of advisors rank the external wholesaler as “very effective” or “effective” at conveying an asset manager’s brand and ranking externals ahead of thought-leadership, websites, media, and other brand messaging mechanisms. Across channels, RIAs differed slightly, putting more credence in a firm’s thought-leadership.
The factors that most shape advisors’ brand perception dovetail with their assessment of best-in-class managers. Advisors naming First Trust as the best-in-class brand, for example, place higher importance on ease of doing business, while advisors naming American Funds as best-in-class place higher importance on trust, among other factors.
Managers with a stable of sub-brands face unique considerations about how to balance illuminating their core brand versus their affiliate or subadvisor brands. Findings from the study revealed a majority of advisors (58 percent) do not think employing sub-advisors or having a multi-affiliate approach impacts a firm’s brand, but a meaningful share at 26 percent believe the approach impacts a brand positively.
Ease of doing business elicited higher rankings from advisors than the numerous other factors that form brand perception, including risk management, fees, thought-leadership, and numerous other factors, offering an important lever for differentiation.
Looking at how various advisor segments prefer to consume thought-leadership and other content, the study also examines advisors’ attitudes on podcasts, finding that nearly 40 percent of advisors listen to podcasts on financial topics. Younger advisors (<40) and RIAs exhibit higher listenership of podcasts than older advisors and other channels.
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About ISS Market Intelligence
ISS Market Intelligence (MI) is a leading global provider of data, analytics, insights, media, and events solutions to the global financial services industry. ISS MI empowers global asset and wealth management firms, insurance companies, distributors, service providers, and technology firms by providing cutting-edge market-engagement platforms and the actionable intelligence necessary to fully assess their target markets, identify and analyze the best opportunities within those markets, and execute on comprehensive go-to-market initiatives to grow their business. ISS MI clients benefit from our increasingly connected global ecosystem that leverages a combination of proprietary data, powerful software and analytics, timely and relevant insights, in-depth research, as well as an extensive suite of industry leading media brands that deliver unmatched market connectivity through news and editorial content, events, training, ratings, and awards. ISS MI data and analytics solutions include intelligence from BrightScope, Discovery Data, Financial Clarity, Flowspring, FWW, Investor Economics, MISight, Mortgage Clarity, Plan for Life, RainmakerLive, and Simfund, and ISS MI media brands and market-engagement platforms include Chief Investment Officer, PlanAdvisor, PlanSponsor, Financial Standard, FS Sustainability, Money, and Industry Moves.
About ISS
Founded in 1985, Institutional Shareholder Services group of companies (ISS) empowers investors and companies to build for long-term and sustainable growth by providing high-quality data, analytics and insight. ISS, which is majority owned by Deutsche Bourse Group, along with Genstar Capital and ISS management, is a leading provider of corporate governance and responsible investment solutions, market intelligence, fund services, and events and editorial content for institutional investors and corporations, globally. ISS operates on an arm’s-length basis and Deutsche Bourse has adopted Principles protecting the independence and integrity of ISS’ research offerings. ISS’ 2,000 employees operate worldwide across more than 30 global offices in 15 countries. Its more than 4,000 clients include many of the world’s leading institutional investors who rely on ISS’ objective and impartial ESG and governance research, market intelligence and fund services and data and analytics, as well as public companies focused on ESG and governance risk mitigation as a shareholder value enhancing measure. Clients rely on ISS’ expertise to help them make informed investment decisions.
Media Contact:
Morgan Stoll
Analyst, Marketing
press@issmarketintelligence.com
