Platforms in advertising war
The major investment platform providers have embarked on aggressive advertising campaigns this year in a bid to differentiate themselves from one another, but whether they are of actual value is questionable, according to Wealth Within marketing director and industry stalwart, Colin Owens (pictured).
Owens said this year’s advertising campaigns were the biggest in a number of years as the battle for market share between bank-owned platforms rages on.
“I don’t think they can afford to marginalise their fees much more than what they already have, because they need every cent they get now through the door to make themselves profitable,” Owens said.
“[Bank-owned platforms] want market share and they want funds under management. At the moment, given the way the fees are, they’re not really making bucket loads of cash and they don’t want to lose the independent sector to boutique operators,” he said.
According to Owens, non-aligned dealer groups seem to be leaning towards the smaller platforms, which might be the reason for the big four’s advertising battle.
“They’re trying to differentiate themselves to attract external people, IFAs [independent financial advisers] and dealer groups, into their platforms and make it attractive for them to join forces.”
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