Junction headed to Boston on Thursday, August 16 for a gathering of more than 100 senior marketers from the world’s top financial brands at the Gramercy’ Institute’s Journal of Financial Advertising and Marketing (JFAM): FORUM.
Featured speakers throughout the half-day conference addressed prominent issues relevant to branding and reputation, measurement and optimization, social media, mobile marketing, and audience targeting. Brands represented on the five panel discussions included Bankrate Inc., Brown Brothers Harriman, John Hancock, Bank of America, The Hartford, Fidelity Investments, Liberty Mutual, Thomson Reuters, State Street Global Advisors, and Linkedin, among several others.
The financial industry has been in a mode of ‘protect and preserve’ through the economic downturn, protestations on Wall Street, and recent public scrutiny over missteps such as those made by J.P. Morgan Chase. Financial brands must be able to effectively communicate the value of products and services in a way that resonates with consumer audiences. Junction has previously addressed how business can achieve this type of brand affinity by simplify messaging and injecting the ‘human’ element, turning mindshare into brandshare.
The themes discussed at JFAM:FORUM in Boston aligned with Junction’s own evaluation of the current market; with a plethora of new technologies at their disposal, marketers are looking for agile resources who can adapt quickly. With great segmentation occurring in marketing, there is a need to partner with agencies who are staying on top of trends. Junction is a member of Brave New Financial, a best-practices consortium designated by JFAM serving as a trusted resource for these financial marketers.
“Bill Wreaks (CEO, Gramercy Institute) has once again put together a star panel of experts who shared insights on the goals and objectives that will guide financial marketing initiatives in 2013,” said Julie Gareleck. “This summit of the industry’s top marketing minds shed light on how the financial services market can approach messaging and regain the trust of the consumer. At the beginning of the strategic planning phase for the upcoming year, there is certainly much to consider. “