From the NY Times last week…
MARKETING RISK MANAGEMENT, TO BOTH CLIENT AND PROVIDER By STUART ELLIOTT Published: February 8, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/business/media/marketing-financial-risk-management-to-clients-and-providers.html
A campaign for the Global Association of Risk Professionals is centered on photographs that liken the effects of the financial crisis to getting punched in the face.
The campaign, now under way, is on behalf of the Global Association of Risk Professionals, a nonprofit organization known as Garp (particularly to fans of John Irving). The campaign, with a budget estimated at $3 million to $5 million, encourages professionals to take the organization’s examinations to become certified as a financial risk manager, or F.R.M.
The campaign, by the Gate Worldwide agency in New York, is centered on striking photographs, in both senses of the word. The photos depict men in business garb recoiling as if they had been socked seconds before their pictures were taken. No fists are shown; they are filled in by the mind’s eye.
The photos, by Marcus Hausser, a Brazilian commercial photographer, appear beneath headlines like “How Can a Financial Institution Avoid Getting Blindsided?” and “Business Has Suffered a Serious Blow. Join the Recovery Team.”
The campaign includes print, online and mobile ads; social media; search; and radio commercials (minus the photos, of course). The ads are running in the United States, Britain, China, India and Singapore.
According to Garp, there are more than 21,000 certified financial risk managers around the world. Becoming certified requires two years of experience, in addition to passing the exam, and costs $800 to $1,200.
The campaign is aimed more broadly than previous ads from Garp, which were directed to risk managers wanting to achieve certification to improve their career prospects. The new ads are also being addressed to organizations, institutions and employers, asking them to regard certification as a seal of approval.
Although “it is a challenge” to raise awareness among both potential audiences, said Kathleen Alcorn, managing director and global head of marketing and membership at Garp in Jersey City, “there has always been a need to expand the conversation.”
“This year, our goal was to try to find that common ground,” she added, and the campaign is “a direct call, a call to arms, if you will, to get certified or hire someone who’s certified.”
The Gate Worldwide, which has worked with the organization for about a year and a half, proposed “three very different campaigns,” Ms. Alcorn said, and the one with the images that evoke boxing matches “certainly was the one of the three that got the most attention and the most discussion.”
“The reason we chose it was that it’s rooted in an emotionally charged truth,” she added, of “what’s felt when an institution is not prepared” for problems like “rogue trading, mismanagement of funds and sovereign debt crises.”
“The point is that the industry is getting hammered, but there’s a solution,” Ms. Alcorn said. “It’s a positive message: ‘We have qualified people out there you can hire.’ ”
The text of the print ads expands on that message.
“Unforeseen risk is everywhere,” one ad begins. “You can find it within an organization or throughout the global economy.”
“That’s why more companies are turning to certified financial risk managers,” the ad continues. “Every F.R.M. has mastered the specialized knowledge that’s sought after by banks, consultancies, corporations and asset management firms.”
Another ad begins: “In a world of financial risk, organizations can never be too prepared. That’s why more global companies are relying on certified financial risk managers.”
“As an F.R.M., you’ll be recognized for mastering the complexities of credit, market and operational risks,” the ad continues. “You’ll also play a critical role in the financial well-being of banks, consultancies, corporations and asset management firms.”
The ads all end by pointing readers to the Garp Web site, at garp.org. The ads also include a QR (quick response) code, which can be scanned to learn more about the organization.
“We’re all experiencing this financial crisis,” said David Bernstein, executive creative director at the Gate Worldwide, adding he knows that “as a veteran of a lot of advertising agencies that no longer exist.”
“In the past, we’ve done advertising telling people to get the certification by saying, ‘You’ll be more qualified, you’ll have a better career, you’ll make more money,’ ” Mr. Bernstein said, an approach that is “logical for any credential.”
“Now, we’re also telling employers, ‘Hey, these are the kind of people you need, credentialed,’ ” he added.
Although the concept for the campaign “did make the palms sweat” of some executives at Garp, Mr. Bernstein said, something “so visceral” was just what was needed.
He described the point of the campaign with a nod to the economist Adam Smith: “The invisible hand, it packs a punch.”
That has a double meaning, Mr. Bernstein acknowledged, in that the hand delivering the punch in each ad is invisible, too.
“We don’t want to show someone getting hit,” he said. “We want to show the result: what it feels like, what you look like.”
“Movies do this all the time,” he added. “Instead of seeing the house on fire, you see the crispy doll.”
In trying to raise awareness for the certification exam, the campaign is timely.
“In 2009, we had our largest year in registrations” for the exam, Ms. Alcorn said, which rose 70 percent compared with 2008.
The campaign is running in several media outlets owned by Bloomberg, including magazines, Bloomberg Radio and the Bloomberg terminals.
In social media, Garp has a presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
“Social has been a good vehicle for us,” Ms. Alcorn said.