Foolhardy

Marketing messages not substantiated with facts are folly.

Andrew Carrier

Apr 06, 2025

Read on to learn why:

① If you can’t explain a claim, you’ll lose trust and credibility in an instant.

② Proof points are the foundation of an effective message house.

③ Private markets are heading towards the mainstream.

④ Financial institutions are now clear on the return on investment of AI.

⑤ Legacy media is facing competition from the very stars it created.

⑥ You should dress like an adult.

⑦ Culture trumps strategy.

What's new

Deutsche Bank’s asset manager was fined €25mn over greenwashing this week, the FT reports.

Source: The Financial Times, 2 April 2025

In short:

“DWS, which is 80 per cent owned by the German lender, misled investors about its green credentials, Frankfurt prosecutors said on Wednesday. Prosecutors concluded that the asset manager used ‘aggressive’ advertising that ‘did not reflect reality’, citing the claim that environmental, social and governance was ‘part of our DNA’ and that the firm was a ‘leader’ in the field as examples.”
“DWS agreed to pay $19mn to settle the charges brought by the US securities regulator in 2023, which at that time was the watchdog’s highest-ever penalty related to ESG criteria against an investment adviser. While the SEC’s settlement referred to a period between 2018 and 2021, the German prosecutors’ investigation found the misconduct continued until 2023, after the appointment of current chief executive Stefan Hoops in June 2022.”
“The asset manager said on Wednesday that it had already acknowledged that ‘our marketing was sometimes exuberant’ in the past, and said it had improved its internal documentation and control processes.”

Why it matters

Advertising that “did not reflect reality”. Look, I’m not fluent but I’m fairly confident that’s German for “lied”, not “exuberant”. This story matters because it’s a frankly astonishing case of a grown up, regulated firm that really ought to know better getting it badly wrong.

Coincidentally, it was the fine folks on Deutsche Bank’s compliance team who, years ago, taught me to be scrupulous about any clams in my copy. When I was promoting the bank’s securities services, terms like “best” or “leader” were red-lined without exception. I soon learnt to make fact-based, data-driven claims rather than rely on lazy copywriting. And I’ve done so ever since, because the issue here is credibility.

① Even if you don’t have a regulator asking questions, you will eventually face a journalist or an inquisitive client. At some point, someone is going to ask you why you think your product is ‘the best thing since sliced bread’. And if you can’t explain the claim, you’ll lose their trust and your credibility in an instant.

What to do about it

Take action

There is no ambiguity here. If you can’t substantiate your marketing messages with facts, then you’re lying.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make eye-grabbing statements - capturing your audience’s attention then differentiating your product from others is the very purpose of most marketing, after all - but it does mean you have to be armed with facts or data to back those statements up.

② So, your bold slogans, your ‘exuberant’ marketing messages, your “we’re the best/fastest/cheapest/strongest leader in our field” statements, need to be the roof of a detailed message house built on factual foundations. This is typically the output from a positioning exercise: a strong ‘umbrella statement’, followed by a series of core messages - each of these should have data-based ‘proof points’ that substantiate it. Ideally these proof points should be updated regularly and numerous so you can tailor them to each of your different audiences. This message house should be the ongoing reference point for all your external communications.

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Top stories

The other articles that are worthy of your time.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Goldman Sachs opens private equity deals to rich individuals

③ Private markets are heading towards the mainstream.

Source: WealthManagement.com, 2 April 2025

“Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is expanding its private equity offering to wealthy individuals across Wall Street and beyond, in the latest sign of investment firms gradually broadening access to the much sought-after private markets.”
“The New York-based investment bank is launching an open-ended private equity fund named G-PE, which will offer access to deals from its buyout, growth, secondary and co-investment strategies, according to a statement Wednesday. It will be offered to individuals with at least $5 million in investments across their portfolios, according to a person familiar with the matter.”
“Goldman’s offering aims to challenge larger private-market rivals like Apollo Global Management, Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co., who are all seeking to grow their assets by going after cash from both wealthy individual investors and institutions. In his annual newsletter earlier this week, BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink pledged to open up private markets to millions of everyday investors.”

TECHNOLOGY

80% of Wall Street firms are splurging on AI

④ Financial institutions are now clear on the return on investment of AI.

“The fifth-annual Digital Transformation & Next-Gen Technology Study found 80% of the more than 500 firms surveyed are making moderate-to-large investments in artificial intelligence this year, up from 74% in 2024. Half of executives surveyed said they foresee significant adoption by capital markets firms of digital assets and ledger technology in the next few years.”
“Over two thirds, 68%, responded that they believe generative AI will have the greatest impact on employee productivity. Thirty-five percent said they expect to see a return on investment from generative AI within six months. A majority of executives, 67%, said they personally use generative AI primarily for investment and market research.”
“41% reported they do not feel their technology strategy is moving fast enough and nearly half, 46%, believe their legacy tech is hurting the company's resiliency. A key step toward further adopting AI is ensuring firms' data is formatted to be compatible with AI models. Nearly six in 10 financial services technology and operations executives, or 58%, identified data harmonization as the primary driver for increased return on investment.”

MEDIA & MARKETING

Why TV news anchors like Joy Reid and Don Lemon are moving to Substack

⑤ Legacy media is facing competition from the very stars it created.

From left, Jim Acosta, Don Lemon and Joy Reid. Source: The New York Times, 31 March 2025

“In January, the start-up best known for email newsletters gave all users the ability to publish live video. Now it is home to a handful of cable stars marooned from their mainstream media jobs amid reshuffled lineups, salary cuts and other controversies. On Substack, where politics is the most popular and lucrative category, anti-Trump publishers have been performing particularly well.”
“Jim Acosta, whose subscribers surged after he encouraged CNN viewers in his sign-off message to not ‘bow down to a tyrant,’ now ranks among Substack’s top 20 publishers in politics. Among his 287,000 total readers, Mr. Acosta has more than 10,000 paid subscribers, though he, too, declined to provide any specific financial figures. When asked in early March if he was approaching the $1 million mark in annualised revenue, Mr. Acosta laughed: ‘I’m getting there’.”
“Katie Couric, who started an independent media company in 2017, has found the accelerated decline of linear television ‘at times upsetting,’ she said: ‘I used to anchor the CBS Evening News and the Today show, and I’m doing Instagram Lives now.’ Today, however, with a few dozen employees and a newsletter nearing one million subscribers, she more often feels legacy media is ‘late to the party’.”

WILDCARD

It might be time to ditch your emotional support hoodie

⑥ You should dress like an adult.

“Clothes are psychological armor, and the hoodie is an invitation to dissolve into sentient fleece. It’s the sartorial equivalent of a Do Not Disturb sign. Studies support this: A 2023 paper published in the Academy of Management Journal found that employees who dressed better than usual experienced higher self-esteem and productivity. Another survey from 1999 reported that casual workwear policies were linked to increased tardiness and absenteeism. The hoodie encourages you to clock out.”
The “red sneakers effect,” a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, suggests that individuals who break dress norms—like wearing red sneakers in a corporate environment–are perceived as having higher status. But this rule-breaking is only powerful when the rule-breaker is already powerful. A CEO in a hoodie, for example, reads as too brilliant to care. An entry-level employee in a hoodie, on the other hand, signals a lack of seriousness.
“According to a 2024 survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, 54 percent of employers have a business-casual dress code, and 43 percent allow casual attire. In theory, this means more freedom for all. In practice, it means more ambiguity. Very few people can get away with looking like they’ve just rolled out of bed.”

Off cuts

The stories that almost made this week’s newsletter.

The last word

⑦ Jenny Johnson, Franklin Templeton CEO, on the importance of cultural fit in M&As:

Jenny Johnson. Source: Investment Week, 2 April 2025

“When you are acquiring a firm, the investment banker is going to tell you why it is a good price or a great strategic fit, but they never talk about the culture. What are they talking about and how quickly does the client come up?”

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Wishing you an innovative week,

P.S. It turns out, the Danes do have a sense of humour after all.