The American College of Financial Services, in partnership with full-service marketing and advertising agency Big Com, launched its first-ever national advertising campaign focused on the consumer. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of College designations and what they signify: deep applied knowledge and proven expertise in specialized areas of planning.
“Every individual and family who can benefit from working with a financial professional has a unique story – and a unique set of goals,” said George Nichols III, CAP®, president and CEO of The College. “This campaign will reach them in that moment of knowing they want professional expertise and will let them know there are professionals who have dedicated careers to precisely the services they need. We see the launch of this campaign as a pivotal milestone in The College’s mission to uplift the profession and benefit society.”
To achieve this successful launch, Big Com and The College have worked together since January in a thoughtful process that involved talking with College alumni, surveying consumers, developing and testing creative concepts, and planning a robust multichannel campaign to spark the interest of prospective clients seeking financial services from competent professionals.
The new ads will drive viewers to an enhanced consumer website and search tool at www.YourAdvisorGuide.com. The website uses the concept of specialization to continue the story of why designations matter and what each one represents. The search tool, accessible on the home page, leads users through a brief questionnaire to yield a list of financial professionals whose expertise matches their unique needs and goals. Your Advisor Guide also features a lookup tool, which individuals can use to verify a professional’s designation or degree from The College. Coupled with FINRA’s BrokerCheck, this resource will serve as a powerful starting point in a client’s search, due diligence, and interview process that can lead to finding the right qualified and compatible financial professional for them.
The new campaign and website are among several benefits available to College designees in good standing, who can indicate if they are client-facing and then create profiles for the search tool – which will appear whenever their designations and other specifics align to the specialized knowledge consumers are seeking. In the event the client or advisor wishes to offer more information in pursuit of a more targeted match, Your Advisor Guide partners with Couplr.AI for sophisticated, AI-enabled matching. The Couplr.AI partnership and the capabilities it brings to bear represent yet another benefit alumni can experience on The College’s platform.
“Consumers have told us they want personalization, and as a profession, we’ve found the answer: the future of advice is specialization. That’s something we’ve seen in The College’s Advisory Services Survey. We’ve seen it in third-party data, which shows firms that offer specialized services achieve quadruple the AUM of those that offer basic services. And we’ve heard it from advisors themselves: more clients want more specialized services powered by expertise. Our educational offerings already fill the gap in advisors’ knowledge. Now this campaign helps fill the consumer knowledge gap around how to identify a specialist who can deliver those services,” said Jared Trexler, senior vice president and chief marketing and strategy officer.
“Big Com created ads that are lighthearted, even a bit humorous, and lead with a positive message of support and guidance – which will help more Americans feel confident about getting started or finding the right professional.”
ABOUT THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES
The American College of Financial Services is the nation’s largest nonprofit and accredited educational institution devoted to financial services professionals. Nearly one in five advisors or agents is an alum of The College. The College offers a learning platform that includes professional designation, certification, and degree programs and encompasses early-career foundational knowledge as well as deep, specialized education in tax, retirement income, philanthropy, risk management, and more with the highest-quality combination of rigor and relevance. The College’s faculty represents the foremost thought leaders in the financial services industry. Its educational programs, research, and events offer professionals the opportunity to accelerate through knowledge, grow through connections, and uplift through community.
Visit TheAmericanCollege.edu to discover all the ways you can expand your opportunities with The College.
ABOUT BIG COM
Big Com is a full-service marketing and advertising agency based in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to helping national brands connect with consumers. With a unique approach grounded in an earned media mindset, Big Com leverages its PR and creative advertising expertise to build meaningful, lasting relationships between brands and their audiences. For more information, visit www.bigcom.com.
Contacts
Sarah Tremallo
908-967-0381 / [email protected]
Jared Trexler
610-526-1268 / [email protected]
