The asset management industry has faced criticism for using marketing gimmicks and corporate spin to attract new investors.
Consumer website Investingreviews.co.uk asked 2,000 adults for their opinions on the brand image presented by the websites of well-known asset managers and investing platforms.
Jupiter faced significant criticisms over its advertising that features a hermit crab and claims of sustainability, with 48% of those surveyed accusing the company of “pretending to be something they’re not”, while 41% said the company’s presentation was “insincere”.
According to the research, Jupiter’s platform featured a hermit crab crawling along an ocean bed next to the strapline “Living and breathing sustainably”. Further aquatic imagery found on the website includes a turtle swimming with a shoal of fish, while another tab takes you to a poem in support of the LGBT community.
Comments from respondents included “obvious virtue signalling” and “it doesn’t make any sense”.
Standard Life’s relaunch as Abrdn was considered to be the worst financial brand overall in the poll, with investors claiming it to be a “bland” and “uninspiring” marketing failure.
One in seven said Abrdn was the website they disliked the most, with 65% of those who singled it out saying it was “too bland”, and 55% finding it “uninspiring”.
In 2017 Standard Life merged with Aberdeen Asset Management before later selling much of its business to life insurer Phoenix.
The name Abrdn, which was heavily criticised by the industry when it was unveiled in April 2021, now sees all the group’s five remaining brands come under one name.
“From hermit crabs to company names that no one can pronounce, the public is well and truly fed-up with corporate spin and marketing gimmicks. Standard Life’s relaunch as Abrdn has clearly hit all the wrong notes and should serve as a salutary lesson for financial platforms everywhere,” said Simon Jones, CEO of Investingreviews.co.uk. “With all the millions that the big beasts of finance spend on their digital operations, they would do well to remember that customers are far more interested in making returns on their investments than they are with lame PR stunts.”
Other websites that came under fire were Rathbones, which respondents claimed was “too wordy”, and Baillie Gifford which was accused of being “creepy”.
Jupiter and Abrdn were contacted for comment.
