OppenheimerFunds

How Did Asset Managers Respond to QE3?

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Sep 14, 2012, in Thoughts , tagged with Direxion, iShares, Janus, OppenheimerFunds, PIMCO, QE3, Russell, Twitter, Vanguard, Virtus

It’s almost old news by now. Yesterday, the Fed announced QE3 and ongoing purchases of mortgage-backed securities at the rate of $40B per month. So, how did asset managers respond?

Using Twitter as an (incomplete) proxy for firms’ responses, here’s the short, chronological list of activity as of 5pm on the day of the news:

Janus gives a 140-character critique of the Fed. No further analysis as of yet, but a responsive opinion.
Direxion tweets some specifics to traders.
iShares establishes its point-of-view by calling the buying program “aggressive” and links to a news story from Reuters.
Virtus ties the Fed’s move to senior floating rate debt and links to an ultra-concise blog post.
In the #AskMcNabb Twitter Q&A, Vanguard’s Bill McNabb notes that he is not favor of QE3 due to excessive long-term risks. (Note that the questioner also asked how much Mr. McNabb can bench press. Unfortunately, no insight was given.)
PIMCO links to Mohamed El-Erian’s thoughts on FT.com. Bonus points for being the first long-form response; a slight ding for requiring an extra click to get to the content.

That is six responses within about six hours. As a sidebar, it’s interesting that none of the content referenced any of trending conversations on Twitter (#QE3, #Fed, etc.). Per the screen capture below, a search showed Oppenheimer and Russell taking advantage of Twitter’s social features. But these were from before the Fed’s announcement.

I don’t know exactly what I expected when I started to look, but overall I’d characterize the volume as a bit disappointing. The biggest financial news of the week warranted a bigger, faster response. Firms know that; it’s still a matter of getting the process ironed out.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Sep 04, 2012, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with AB, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, OppenheimerFunds

Another week and another newcomer to the best blogs of the week. This week it is Oppenheimer. With the first presidential convention under way, this week included numerous blog posts linked to the November elections. I’m sure we’ll continue to see more posts up to the election (and probably afterwards). In this review, we included two posts with links to government.

AllianceBernstein – This post describes the differences between an Obama and Ryan budget plan. As advisors receive greater inbound questions, similar posts will help shape those advisors’ answers.
BlackRock – Simply a fantastic infographic.
Franklin Templeton – The driest of the four, this post provides practical input on risk management when overseeing a portfolio.
Oppenheimer – This post discusses the impact of Chairman Bernake’s reappointment by President Obama’s in 2010 and the importance to consider the effect of a change.

Consider the Cost of Feeding a Campaign First

Posted by Anu Heda on Jul 03, 2012, in Thoughts , tagged with BlackRock, OppenheimerFunds

One of modern business’s most cliche ideas is “if you build it, they will come.” That iconic line from Kevin Costner’s last good movie gets abused in all contexts. So it was refreshing to hear the opposite sentiment during the MFEA Distribution Summit.

There’s an uptick in new marketing campaigns. Some campaigns are product-focused (Global Funds and Oppenheimer). Some are channel-focused (New World, BlackRock, & Retail). Some are pricing-focused (5x and VG). In most cases, the campaigns drive people to learn more via a comprehensive Web site and hopefully campaign-related interactions with Sales.

Marketing organizations need to drive people to investigate the concepts behind the campaign. Build a campaign with a microsite and they will NOT come. You need to compel “they” to come. Those resources, such as television, print media, radio and social media, are not trivial. Actually, they can be very expensive.

Before thinking about ROI or other financial metrics, ask one crucial question: how much is the organization willing to spend in order to compel the desired prospects to listen? Take that number to the PR and Media groups and ask for an estimated sizing: for that amount of spend, how much media can the organization purchase.

Designing a campaign and building the creative executions is the first step. In our industry, a few firms advertise often and effectively. These firms have processes (not dissimilar to a consumer products company) that begin with those questions. For some mid-sized or small but growing firms, those processes may not exist, so analyzing the full cost, time, and resources first is a good approach to advertising.

If the estimate doesn’t seem sufficient to compel prospects and clients, then using those dollars for something else may be more effective.

The Return of the Microsite

Posted by Anu Heda on Mar 21, 2012, in Thoughts , tagged with BlackRock, OppenheimerFunds, RidgeWorth

In 2007, microsites were all the rage. Manager after manager was rushing to put out some clever vanity URL with select content. Slowly, they faded from the mainstream.

In 2012, they are back and with good reason. I’ll focus on two good reasons microsites are returning.

… [read more]

Making Passwords Easier to Remember

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Jun 27, 2011, in Thoughts , tagged with eBusiness, financial advisors, OppenheimerFunds, site security, Web sites

A few months back, a Yahoo user posed a simple question:

How many online passwords do you have? How often do you forget the damn things?

The best answer, as selected by the asker: Too many and all the time.

This reality remains one of the consistently frustrating parts of Web strategy. In trying to deliver better online experiences for advisors and institutions, asset managers face a logic puzzle that can be summed up by three statements:

Clients want more personalized Web sites.
Firms can increasingly deliver more tailored experiences IF clients register and login.
Clients resist registering and logging in.

Over the years firms have tried hard to overcome clients’ resistance. Registration processes have been streamlined. Sites like Oppenheimer’s sell reasons why the user should sign up. But the password challenge lingers – the average person has more than 20 passwords to remember.

The industry hasn’t dug deep to find better solutions. Right now a forgotten password typically kicks off a multi-step process requiring:

A phone call, OR
The issuance of a temporary password via e-mail, followed by specification of a permanent password, OR
Both

It seems very few firms are actively exploring opportunities to make the tracking/recall of passwords easier. Embedding “hint” questions in the registration process and using those to facilitate direct recall of passwords is one option. Enabling users to utilize the login credentials they know best – via OpenID-based services from Google and Yahoo, for example – is another.

The point is – for all the work done to make it easier and more attractive to sign up for sites, less work is being done to make it easier to repeatedly log in time and time again. With all that firms have done to create excellent sites, this is a challenge that warrants more attention.