Read the room
Empathy may be the rarest quality in corporate comms. And the most powerful.
This is an extract from IMTW № 93.
Read on to learn why:
① Trying to invoke sympathy for a financial services firm is a fool’s errand.
② The best communications are empathetic, candid, informed, and interesting.
③ Smaller asset managers will likely benefit from an about turn on research fees.
④ The world’s central banks continue to investigate the benefits of blockchain.
⑤ Your marketing team should be experimenting with AI. Now.
⑥ The hardest messages to communicate demand candour.
⑦ Cross-selling is as effective across industries as it is across product lines.
What's new
Abrdn’s chief investment officer complained this week that the company is facing “corporate bullying” by the media. That went down as well as you’d expect.
In short:
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Why it matters
I didn’t bother discussing the Abrdn rebrand with you when it happened. It felt too easy a target. Suffice to say, I’m with the army of branding experts who unanimously declared it a naive disaster. But this latest gaffe from the accident prone firm isn’t about branding at all. It matters because it’s an example of corporate communications that lack the slightest bit of empathy.
① Branner utterly misjudges his audience and so makes two key errors. The first is he erroneously believes he can inspire sympathy for a financial services firm. And he does so by complaining about the press…to the press. Rather than take any ownership, he seeks to blame others. A fool’s errand. No surprise then that it resulted in yet more mocking (and delightfully amusing) press coverage.
The second, arguably much worse, mistake is he bastardises well meaning diversity and inclusion language to try to apply it to his company. ‘Corporate bullying’ means a company bullying or allowing its staff to be bullied. It was never intended to apply to a multi-billion pound company having its poor branding decisions mocked by the free press. And to suggest otherwise is a slap in the face to anyone who has been the victim of actual corporate bullying.
What to do about it
Take action
It’s particularly unfortunate for Branner that he should trip up this week of all weeks, because his pratfall coincides with the publication of Jamie Dimon’s shareholder letter - a piece of corporate comms universally praised by experts. Our action this week then is to be less Branner and more Dimon, whose book-length annual report letters are the closest thing the industry has to a State of the Union.
② The annual letters from the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan have earned Dimon praise, trust and admiration because they’re:
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For the rest of this issue, including points ③, ④, ⑤, ⑥ and ⑦, visit my Substack >
About
Written for senior leadership teams in finance and technology, InMarketing This Week is a showcase for news likely to impact you - delivered with insight on why it matters and ideas on what to do about it. It’s published every Sunday to give you a head start on the week. Read extracts here, or subscribe to have each full issue delivered straight to your inbox at six, before it's available anywhere else.
Director Leadership Development @ Beacon | People Development, Talent Strategy
7moEmpathy & transparency: keys to top-notch communication with a dollop of AI experimentation.
Head of Innovation | Blockchain Developer | AI Developer | Renewable & Sustainability Focus | Tech Enthusiast
7moGreat insights on the importance of empathy in corporate communications! 👏 Can't wait to see more innovation and influence in #InMarketing. 🚀
Hands-on Technology Executive | CIO | CISO | Data & Analytics | Governance | (Re)Insurance
7moMy favorite line from the Guardian story on the corporate bullying claim: Chief executive Stephen Bird – who has been jokingly referred to as Stphn Brd – has since defended the change, and claimed clients had “fully embraced it”. Now everyone is dropping vowels in their commentary about abrdn - the company is a laughing stock.
Investment Fund Sales & Distribution | UBS | Digital Client Acquisition & Relationship Management | LinkedIn Top Voice | Thematic Investment Conversation Starters | Connecting People & Opportunities | Community Activator
7moamused that you gave abrdn prime real estate in your newsletter and Dimon's diamond piece second place... 😜