New York Life Investment Management

Winner of PRWeek’s 2008 Financial Communications Campaign of the Year Award

Grappling with long-term, lower returns from global equity markets, in 2007 pension plans and endowments across the nation became aggressive in searching for alternative investments that could enhance their returns.   In response, asset managers such as New York Life Investments went to work in creating products that could deliver greater returns without significantly increasing portfolio risk.   
 
As a result in 2007, a new portfolio structure most commonly referred to as 130/30 strategies emerged and took the investment management industry by storm.  A 130/30 investment strategy is benchmarked to an index that invests 130% of its assets in long positions, while 30% is sold short. The proceeds from the short sales are then used to fund the purchase of the additional 30%.  
 
Makovsky assisted New York Life Investments in the launch of both its retail and institutional 130/30 products through two distinct brands: on the institutional side, Equity Investor’s Group (today the boutique is known as Madison Square Investors) and on the retail distribution side, MainStay Investments. Using original research to support the company’s first-in-class position and investment expertise, Makovsky’s public relations efforts to industry gatekeepers helped our client to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with competitors much larger in size.

The media relations campaign supported a larger, multi-faceted new business push and had a significant bottom-line impact on the amount of assets coming into the new investment vehicles — the ultimate tribute to any successful campaign.