Brief

Columbia Threadneedle Investments had not undertaken formal research to examine the business’ reputation in the European marketplace for nearly a decade, during which time they had undergone a major transformation. With the firm about to embark on a European expansion it was a sensible time to undertake a comprehensive audit to help benchmark current awareness, engagement and sentiment of CTI among key stakeholder groups to identify potential barriers to growing the business. As such, our objective was to obtain an objective and comprehensive understanding of how key stakeholders in EMEA perceived the business, to refine current brand, marketing communications, proposition, services and supports, in turn, to unlock further opportunities.

Strategy & Execution

We took a 360-degree approach to the Reputation Audit, engaging with all key internal and external stakeholder groups using a mix of quantitative and qualitative insight and desk-based research to inform the final findings and recommendations:

• A review of press coverage/releases from Columbia Threadneedle and key competitor firms.
• In-depth interviews with the Columbia Threadneedle leadership team across EMEA.
• Employee focus groups.
• In-depth telephone interviews with key external stakeholder groups, including strategic partners; institutional investors/wholesale fund selectors; investment consultants; media/trade press; recruitment consultants; ratings agencies.
• Quantitative telephone survey of financial advisers.
• Quantitative online survey of investors.

Result

The recommendations from the study were widely disseminated within senior teams across the whole business and, upon support from the EMEA CEO, are actively being used to implement business change.