Can You Brand a Distribution Channel?

IBDs: A Continuing Success Story

In the world of retail financial advice and solutions, Independent Broker-Dealers continue to grow and capture market share. However, the success of thousands of IBD advisors — and how their approach to providing services and doing business contrasts to that of Wirehouses and other channels — is often poorly understood by the general investing public, regulatory organizations and at times, potential recruits from other parts of the industry. In recognition of this relatively unknown success story, Carpenter Group Managing Director David Master recently explored the prospects of “branding” the IBD channel as part of a panel session at the recent OneVoice 2010: Financial Services Institute Broker-Dealer Conference in January. Over 500 executives from the IBD community and sponsor companies were in attendance at the conference.

Varied Players, Common Themes

This provocative exploration of channel branding was held in collaboration with Eric Schwartz, CEO of Cambridge Investment Research; Ruth Papazian, EVP & CMO of LPL Financial; and Shelley Lee, President of Ashworth-Lee Communications. The group probed the benefits and challenges of creating a more clear and distinct identity for the channel, consisting of a broad diversity of independent broker-dealers and advisors. Building on the example of Intel Inside, which worked to the collective benefit of much of the computer industry, the panel pushed participants to consider whether they could come together around a shared value proposition that would support greater industry-wide visibility, focus on key strengths and clarify misperceptions about important topics such as investment product access and support infrastructure.

Motivating Collective Action

The discussion achieved its objective of “stirring the pot” with the attendees in a productive fashion, resulting in majority agreement that there could be strong, shared benefits to all through the pursuit of an industry-wide program, leveraging industry participants and utilizing select public relations, advertising and electronic media tactics. Representatives from many firms, small and large, subsequently volunteered to formally consider how such a program might be launched.

For more than three decades, Carpenter Group has helped financial services organizations grow their businesses and improve profitability through objective business advice, branding and marketing solutions, and creative services. Carpenter Group brings together seasoned professionals from the financial services, branding and creative industries to develop and implement solutions that drive business goals forward.

Our clients include many of the most prominent firms in the asset management, investment banking, insurance, brokerage and commercial banking sectors.

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