The room where it happens

You need an experienced communications specialist at your side, in bad times even more so than in good ones | Issue № 6

Dec 20, 2020

Written for CEOs, marketers and other leaders in the financial sector, InMarketing This Week is a showcase for news likely to impact them - delivered with insight on why it matters and ideas on what to do about it.

It’s published from London every Sunday evening at six o’clock to give you a head start on the week. Read it here, or subscribe to have it delivered straight to your inbox:

This week, you'll learn why:

① UBS believes that communications and brand are pivotal to its strategy.

② You should have a communications specialist on your senior leadership team.

③ European private banks are ripe for disruption by tech-enabled players.

④ Fintech firms are increasingly facing the same regulatory scrutiny as finance firms.

⑤ Advertisers are desperately searching for an alternative to cookies.

⑥ You should focus on your product or service before growth.

⑦ Peter Thiel is bullish on European fintechs.

What’s new?

On Tuesday, Finews Asia reported that UBS is appointing Marsha Askins as its head of communications and branding, from January 1.

In short:

"Marsha Askins, is currently chief of staff to private bank co-head Tom Naratil."
"The move fills a 15-month vacancy after Hubertus Kuelps left for Pictet last September. Askins, who has been with UBS since 2007, will relocate to Zurich from New York for the job."
"She will report directly to Ralph Hamers, who became CEO of the $2.6 trillion wealth manager six weeks ago."

Why does it matter?

It's certainly worth celebrating the fact that Marsha will be the first woman to take on the role. What I also found interesting about the story though is how it reminds us of how seriously UBS takes the Communications and Branding function.

① UBS clearly believes that communications and brand are pivotal to its success and should have a voice in any strategic discussion. The top communications job is a permanent guest at meetings of the Swiss bank’s 13-person top management and oversees a budget of several hundred million.

That's just as well since Marsha comes into the role as Ralph Hamers faces an unexpected, major crisis: a Dutch court on Wednesday ordered his role in a money-laundering scandal at ING, which he ran until this summer, to be investigated by prosecutors.

If your communications specialist isn't in the room when big decisions are being made, you're short on invaluable advice that will help protect your brand and your reputation.

“It pays to have an experienced communications adviser at your side.”

I touched on this last week when we considered Facebook's inept communications (a situation which only got worse this week as the social media giant picked an ill-advised public fight with privacy advocate Apple using sloppy messaging and questionable arguments), in bad times even more so than in good ones, it pays to have an experienced communications adviser at your side.

What’s next?

1. Take action

② If you don't already have one, you should appoint an experienced communications specialist to your senior leadership team - even if it's only on a part-time basis or as a permanent guest.

Your business has many stakeholders. Your prospects, your clients and your staff are the obvious ones. But there are many others, not least your regulator(s), the media, your non-exec board members and prospective employees. They all have - sometime very different - concerns and interests. And they all need to be considered, not just when crafting your communications but arguably when making your strategic decisions in the first place. A strategy that play well to your clients in the short-term could end up being catastrophic to the morale of your staff in the long-term. A good communications professional can help flag these kinds of issues.

Of course, you can delegate the task of communicating to someone more junior, you could even outsource it to a PR or communications firm. The rub is that, if you don't have a communications specialist in the room when you're taking important decisions, you'll miss out on: a) the important considerations such an adviser will bring to the discussion and b) having that person fully understand and be fully invested in those decisions, enabling them to best convey them to any audience thereafter.

2. Get help

In the post-Covid age of depleted marketing budgets and remote teams with skills gaps, many organisations need marketing and communications support that’s agile, flexible, on demand and risk free. That’s why I founded WhatsNext Partners.

Whether it be as a permanent member of your team or with 'on demand' support from WhatsNext, let me know if you need my help.

Email me

3. Share with colleagues and subscribe

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What else?

Three other articles from the last seven days that are worthy of your time.

FINANCE

The Financial Times, 15 December 2020: Vestrata aims to shake up Europe’s private banks

③ European private banks are ripe for disruption by tech-powered players.

"Six former JPMorgan executives have teamed up to launch a fintech platform that aims to attract wealth managers and private banks that are struggling to expand their businesses while also battling with rising costs and regulatory changes."
"The reality for most private banks is that 20 per cent of the clients are responsible for 80 per cent of their business. But that also means 80 per cent of the client book is underserviced,” said Mark Le Lievre.
"Profits across Europe’s private banking sector have dropped by 10 per cent since 2017 due to rising costs and lacklustre new business growth, according to McKinsey. The consultancy warned this year that more pressure on profits was likely as the pandemic has created more dissatisfaction among clients."

TECHNOLOGY

The Financial Times, 19 December 2020: Robinhood faces questions over business model after US censures

④ Fintech firms are increasingly facing the same regulatory scrutiny as finance firms. It's time to grow up.

Source: The Financial Times, 19 December 2020

"Robinhood’s quest to disrupt Wall Street with its sleek app and promise to democratise trading has itself been disrupted by a duo of US regulatory actions."
"The broker agreed a $65m settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday over allegedly failing to deliver value for clients, just days after accusations by the Massachusetts Securities Division that it has 'gamified' investing."
"The group’s zero-commission model relies on high trading volumes, and it encourages users to the platforms with frequent email updates, mobile phone alerts and emoji-laden messages. Confetti blasts, which pop up when customers complete trades, add to the sense that it is a game."

MEDIA & MARKETING

The Financial Times, 16 December 2020: Washington Post signs up for new online advertising tool

⑤ Now that Apple has banned them and Google will phase them out in 2022, advertisers are desperately searching for an alternative to cookies.

Source: The Financial Times, 16 December 2020

"The Washington Post has become the first big publisher to sign up for a new way of targeting online advertisements at its readers."
"The identity system developed by US adtech company The Trade Desk relies on users signing up for a single ID, potentially tied to their email address or mobile phone number, that they can use to sign in across multiple sites."
"Next year is likely to see a battle between a number of rival ID systems, each trying to earn a central place in the online media system."

Quotable

⑥ Martin Sorrell, chatting to Alex Barker in a must-read Lunch with the FT:

"I agree with Maurice Saatchi: you build the best and you become the biggest."

One more thing...

Back in 2018, Peter Thiel said he thought there were “no successful tech companies in Europe.” Two years before he had called the continent a “slacker with low expectations.” Now he’s investing furiously in European tech startups, pushing money into the continent’s fintech companies in particular. As well as Transferwise and N26, other European fintechs continue to attract Thiel’s investment.

⑦ Sifted reported the details last Tuesday.

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