Objective: To showcase our thought leadership and make our investors more comfortable with their investing decisions by showing that our experts follow the same simple approach.
Strategy: We frequently have our experts answer fan questions live on our Facebook page. One of the most frequently asked questions is what our experts hold in their personal portfolios. In the past, we provided the generic response that everyone's situation is different. We wanted to be more personable and provide more value, so we partnered with our legal team to figure out a way that our experts could give insight into asset classes in their portfolio. We turned each expert's answer into a visual and then tied them all back to an article showing that even our experts are following Vanguard's basic investing principles. Two of our experts also blogged about their answers.
As a virtual company, especially a financial services one, it can be hard to not only connect with clients but also to inspire them. We at Vanguard are passionate about giving investors the best chance for investment success. We know that our clients want validation. They want to know that their investing decisions are on point. This campaign turned what can be perceived as a dry concept into an engaging and educational campaign. The experts showed personality and expertise while still driving traffic to our investing principles. We write about our principles often, but by presenting them in a unique and personal way, we saw a large increase in views. We also found that other blog forums picked up this content and engaged in healthy debates on investing decisions. The visuals and campaign may seem simple and obvious; however, if you compare them to other investment companies, they are in fact edgy and speak to how much we listen to our fans. We heard their need for validation, and our experts responded directly. Turning an investment portfolio into a compelling story is a much bigger challenge than a flashy campaign. Simple and effective are sometimes the hardest ideas to execute but can lead to the greatest rewards.
Outcome: