Investment firms need to clarify their value
to investors and make it stand out .
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¹ Investors have hundreds of firms to choose from, which are often perceived as being fundamentally similar.
² Due to weak branding, firms strengths are not well understood, under-appreciated or worse, unnoticed.
³ Many small to mid-cap firms lack a premium brand that matches their expertise.
⁴ Understanding what drives target investors and the interplay between rationality and emotions in their decision-making (Yeung et al, 2023) (Lucey, 2005).
⁵ Even a small incident can damage your reputation and lead to distrust.
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¹ An over-crowded market with very little differentiation and an over-reliance on past performance to stand out.
² Firms struggle in articulating their message in a clear and unique way.
³ The brand visuals of small to mid-cap firms often don’t match their expertise and edge.
⁴ The idea that emotions play a role in investor decision-making can be intimidating for some firms.
⁵ Reputation and trust are the lifeblood of your industry.
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¹ ² The risk :
Of being perceived as a commodity and losing pitches as a consequence
That firms and investors goals are perceived as not aligned
That firms market perception is not equal to reality
That firms end up competing primarily on performance, which is volatile, unpredictable and creates a race to the bottom
³ Small to mid-cap firms will struggle to punch above their weight to compete with legacy firms and to maintain/increase management fees.
⁴ Missed opportunities in attracting and retaining target investors during market downturns.
⁵ Failing to address reputation issues through branding will make investor attraction more difficult and redemptions inevitable.
Our co-created solution
For
“Varig’s work is very in-depth and high-quality.
Our investors complimented us on our brand visuals.”
Polaris Financial Management
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We prefer to diagnose before we prescribe.
Through our Brand Due Diligence™ we diagnose your brand and give you our recommendations.
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Phase 1 : Brand DNA
Phase 2 : Brand Body
Phase 3 : Brand Voice
— for your firm and your individual funds
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Turnkey design support for your pitchbooks, white papers and other investor documentation.
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Employer branding
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CEO/CIO personal branding
Outperform the benchmark ordinary.
Brand Capital™
First we had to become fluent in your industry.
Orion
We help you do that through branding.
What do our Investors say
“Varig produced high-quality work with minimum time commitment on our side.
We’re entirely satisfied with the results.”
How can strong branding benefit you?
83%
of financial services firms report an increase in their growth after undergoing branding efforts.
(“Measuring the ROI on Rebranding Initiatives Survey,” Adrenaline, 2024)
How would this transformation make you feel?
+26%
Companies with a strong brand are able to charge higher prices/fees than their competitors (26% higher on average).
(The Financial Power of Brand Preference, Forbes 2019)
50%
Firms with a strong brand attract 50% more qualified candidates and reduce hiring costs by 50%.
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Pride in how your firm presents itself to investors.
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Confidence in your ability to stand out.
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More control over your market perception.
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Reassured that your edge doesn’t get unnoticed.
(Employer branding statistics, Zipdo 2024)
of financial company executives believe their branding efforts have helped them better stand out from the competition.
(“Measuring the ROI on Rebranding Initiatives Survey,” Adrenaline, 2024)
77%
That’s why we’ve talked to firms of all sizes.
865 emails, roughly a hundred hours of in-house research and 14 interviews later, this is what we found.
Boutique asset managers
MFOs
Hedge funds
VC firms
PE firms
REITs
Investor and concept work
Asset manager focusing on private debt solutions
Asset manager operating in the private markets
Asset manager specialising in EM equities
Alternative asset manager focusing on private markets
Global-macro hedge fund
ESG-focused asset management firm
Private equity firm
Firm focused on crypto investing
The work philosophy that guides us.
Strive for simplicity
Finance is data heavy. Your brand should not detract from what’s important.
When you create something simple, it gets remembered and never has to change.
Varig: long lasting / enduring in both Norwegian and Danish
Asset managers, the most precious asset you manage is your brand.
Do what you do best, invest.
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Through interviews with the asset management industry, we co-designed our Brand Capital™ solution to make sure it helps you achieve your goals.
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A focus on your industry allows us to better understand your challenges.
Our in-depth interviews gave us the insights needed to help you stand out and make sure your strengths get noticed.
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Branding is our bread and butter.
By limiting ourselves to what we’re good at, we can provide true value to our Investors.
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While we have in-depth knowledge of your industry, we don’t pretend to know everything about your business.
We don’t assume, we'd rather ask you.
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We don’t believe in prescription without diagnosis and won’t prescribe you our Brand Capital™ solution if you don’t need it.
Your diagnosis is done through our Brand Due Diligence™ where we look at what works and what needs to be refined and elevated.
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We want our Investors to love the journey as much as the destination.
Great service is already expected from us.
We want our Investors to remember us for our hospitality.
We don’t have the resources of a large agency.
