FPA ad campaign to cost up to $15 million

The advertising campaign proposed by the Financial Planning Association (FPA) will cost up to $15 million over five years, according to the FPA chief Mark Rantall (pictured).

Speaking at the Fourth Annual FPA National Roadshow in Sydney, Rantall said the campaign, which is hoped to improve the image of financial planners in the eyes of the public, would be approved and funded by members.

Certified Financial Planners (CFP) and Associated Financial Planners will be levied by $220 each per year, while general and future advisers will pay an additional $100.

In addition, the FPA will contribute $500,000 per year from its own reserves. Rantall said the association expected its professional partners to come through with the same amount of money for the campaign.

According to feedback forms filled out by planners following Rantall’s presentation, over 80 per cent of those present at the Roadshow supported the advertising levy, while the average around the country was 90 per cent, the FPA chief said.

The FPA presented two new concepts for its advertising campaign and amended the first proposal offered at the FPA National Conference on the Gold Coast last year.

The three concepts are called ‘Are you qualified to do that?’, ‘The Power of Planning’ and 'The odd one out’.

Judging by the show of hands at the Sydney Roadshow and according to planner feedback forms, it was a tie between the first and the second concepts in terms of popularity, while ‘The odd one out’ gained the least number of votes.

The ‘Are you qualified to do that?’ advertisement would focus on several professions, outlining various qualifications needed to carry out those jobs, while promoting FPA planners as the fully qualified, most trusted advisers in the field.

The second concept, ‘The Power of Planning’ would show an adviser carrying out calculations for their client on a whiteboard. The advertisement would highlight the impact those calculations would have on the size of the wedding planned for the client’s daughter.

However, a couple of planners raised concern about the angle of the whole campaign, with one chartered accountant, who preferred to remain anonymous, saying that promoting the FPA brand and not focusing on the CFP designation would fail to resonate with the public.

“I tell people I’m a chartered accountant; I don’t tell them that I am a member of an association, because they don’t identify with that,” he said.

In his response, Rantall said the FPA is a planning organisation, not a CFP association.

“The CFP designation is a global trademark – we don’t own it. There is a bit of an issue around that,” he said.

He assured planners that both current and prospective clients visit the FPA website in their thousands, and therefore they would know about the association.

One member added that with the campaign’s focus on professionalism, planners might be talking to themselves, rather than their audience.

He suggested the campaign focus on the unique relationship planners have with their clients, which Rantall said the FPA would take into consideration.

The third concept, ‘The odd one out’, is similar to the proposal offered at the National Conference on the Gold Coast last year, but the FPA decided to change the angle. Instead of asking the public to pick the FPA planner out of 12 similarly dressed planners in the picture, the audience would be asked to pick the one who is not an FPA member.