If there is any one single measure of the influence of Industry Funds Services (IFS) chairman Garry Weaven on the financial services sector over the past 12 months, it must surely be the FinancialPlanning Association’s (FPA’s) decision to incorporate the IFS ‘compare the pair’ advertising tagline in its own new advertising campaign.
Weaven himself has publicly interpreted last week’s move as a sign that the IFS’ current marketing campaign is “biting a bit” in its aim of illustrating suggested superior returns by industry funds over those of retail funds, partly as a result of generally lower fees and not having to pay planner commissions.
While the jury is still out on the effectiveness of the FPA campaign’s attempt to trump this IFS message by demonstrating the value of financial advice, use of the IFS tagline is at least an indication of the extent to which the IFS under Weaven is driving the debate on this particular issue. It’s also the key reason Weaven is again on this year’s Top 10 Most Influential list.
The IFS’ dominance of the debate is also evident in the speed with which Weaven went on to the marketing offensive after the FPA launched its latest advertising campaign.
He immediately welcomed the campaign publicly for inadvertently promoting industry super funds as a distinct super category, suggesting the use of the ‘compare the pair’ tagline had backfired.
“Use of the tagline reinforces the notion of industry super funds as a separate super category, and we think anything that draws a distinction between industry super funds and other categories is a good thing, and therefore is to be welcomed.”
He also welcomed the FPA’s campaign as a “good thing in its own right, and something with which we have no problem, if financial planners want to demonstrate that they provide financial advisory services beyond super”.
Beyond promoting the “generic quality of industry super funds”, Weaven believes the campaign would have no adverse affect on industry super funds per se or the effectiveness of the IFS advertising campaign.
“All it will really do, if it turns out to be effective, is to encourage consumers to see a financial planner, which, from our point of view, will be both a good and a bad result depending on which planner they get to see.
“If planners base their advice to clients in relation to super on whether or not they get paid a commission, then that’s not a good thing — not for industry super funds and not for clients, most times.
“On the other hand, there’s is a growing band of planners that do recommend industry funds these days, but they are invariably those that charge on a retainer or an hourly rate.”
— Liam Egan
