Revitalizing W.P. Stewart & Company

It was the most turbulent market in decades.
 
Although the pundits were quick to label the seismic events of 4Q 08 “The Great Recession,” that clever sobriquet hardly captured the sense of panic that gripped the world’s economy.
 
In this unstable situation, W.P. Stewart & Company should have been uniquely positioned for success. An asset management firm focused primarily on high net worth individuals and institutions, W.P. Stewart had maintained a resolute commitment to research-intensive equity investing in a limited number of the highest quality stocks.
 
But this commitment had cost them dearly. W.P. Stewart’s investment style had fallen out of fashion, and was often derided as just a tired take on the old “Nifty Fifty” philosophy of the 1960’s.
 
In late 2008, Arrow Capital Management, the investment arm of the Diller-von Furstenberg family, purchased a 39.2% stake in W.P. Stewart, injecting a much-needed shot of capital and confidence in the firm. The combined management team was convinced that the new W.P. Stewart could be a powerhouse in the category.
 
If only they could get the world to listen.
 

The symbol of stability.

 
Our initial brand audit confirmed an essential truth of asset management marketing. The vast majority of firms attempt to differentiate themselves with rather vague, generic descriptions of their investment philosophies.
 
We suggested a completely different strategy: reposition W.P. Stewart not strictly in the context of an investment philosophy, but in the context of portfolio composition. Rather than insist that our philosophy was the only sensible approach, we suggested that a well-constructed portfolio needed a number of different investment vehicles.
 
But no matter where else you invest your money, in REITs or SPDRs or chinchilla futures, you need to assign a proportion of your assets to a solid, stable core — and that core should be W.P. Stewart.
 
To symbolize the “core” concept, we developed a new brand icon: a green cube. The cube became the basis for the firm’s visual grammar — in the company’s logo, marketing materials, and the firm’s website.
 
The existing wpstewart.com, a rather static piece of brochure-ware, was reconceived as a dynamic online resource for investors and advisors, with features and functions specifically designed to attract and capture new prospects.
 
At the same time, we conducted an aggressive program of briefings with key editors and reporters, to create a regular presence and a consistent message in the financial media.
 

The million dollar email.

  
The effect of our program was immediate.
 
The new website began collecting new contacts within the first week, and to date, discrete visits to the site skyrocketed. With more than 105,044,120 impressions in print and online and recurring feature appearances on major cable news networks, W.P. Stewart and its analyst team have become a recognized presence in the media.
 
But perhaps the clearest evidence of the power of our program was an email received by the firm’s Client Service Team:
 
After visiting the new website, a former W.P. Stewart investor asked for his account to be re-opened.
 
And immediately returned $1,000,000 to W.P. Stewart’s stewardship.