The Positioning Impact of Launching ETFs
Last week OppenheimerFunds rebranded the recently-purchased RevenueShares ETF lineup as the Oppenheimer Factor Weighted ETFs. Given that the firm is new to the smart beta ETF space, a simple question crossed my mind: how do they now introduce themselves as a firm?
Traditional (for lack of a better word) actively-managed, mutual fund-oriented firms face a number of important strategic marketing and positioning questions when entering the ETF space. But among the most fundamental is figuring out how to adjust the messaging of who they are and what they do.
In many cases there is an established, legacy messaging platform that emphasizes elements – active management, specific investment philosophy or process tenets – that fail to mesh seamlessly with the expanded product line. As a result the new ETFs appear to be more of an opportunistic “bolt-on” than something grounded in the core beliefs of the firm.
OppenheimerFunds’ illustrates one approach to trying to overcome this issue, namely via a tagline (The Right Way to Invest) and four key principles that focus primarily on themes that are vehicle and strategy agnostic. But there are several firms whose stories fail to match up with their newly-expanded offerings. They, and the anticipated entrants into the ETF universe, will need to reconsider how they primarily want to define themselves and communicate their capabilities to the market.
[ image courtesy of Tony Hall ]