Ries and Trout

The other day, after reading the Ries and Trout, I was enlightened what I learned regarding two aspects of the article.  The one strategy that marketers are focusing their time and efforts on now is position.  They realize that there is only so much room in their prospects brain for at the most 7 different brands for each product, that in order to reach their target customer, they have to position themselves as an entirely new brand.  I thought the article was most interesting when it comes to conglomerates.  Ries brought the example of Proctor and Gamble.  At least three of P&G's brands compete in the laundry detergent.  Unlike other conglomerates which emphasize diversification, P&G aims towards domination!  All three brands had different tag lines aiming towards making your clothes white, whiter than white and bright!  It would be riveting to step inside the market research group in Cincinnati working for P&G to see how frequently one brand is chosen over the other.  In my feeble, grad student mind, I would think that diversification would be more important than domination, but obviously P&G as a whole has been doing this a little longer than my month getting my MBA.

As I try to synthesize, analyze, and evaluate this towards my profession, its interesting to see how asset management firms position themselves in the marketplace.  After working at BNY Mellon for the last few years, they position themselves as a money manager with a rich history catering to extremely wealthy families, who are primarily a part of the "old money" crowd.  

If I had to guess, I would place Goldman Sachs and the other Wall Street bulge bracket investment banks as the money management preferences for the "new money" crowd, such as the technology tycoons out in Silicon Valley and the Mark Cubans of the world.  My reasoning is that they would have relationships with the investment banks already through IPO's, merger and acquisition services, and other relationships, that they would probably think of these competitors first.

With "old money" families and "new money" families lined up, I think that the remaining stock of wealth individuals falls into the glut of the thousands of financial advisers, brokerage firms, registered investment advisers, mutual fund companies, and insurance companies that compete ruthlessly to gather as many assets as possible.  It would be an interesting study to see how a wealthy individual selects the firm that they decide to manage their money.  In the asset management business, I think that sometimes its less about the brand that the salesperson is promoting, and more about the person selling the service.  Great salespeople are what will ultimately win over a client's assets and it won't end up being whether they choose a bull or a bear.  Unless of course that bear happens to be Bear Stearns...