FPA prepares to unveil $1m ad campaign
The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has rolled out its first major advertising and public relations campaign, said to be worth up to $1 million, this week.
The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has rolled out its first major advertising and public relations campaign, said to be worth up to $1 million, this week.
Chief executive officer Michael McKenna says the launch, which he says is loosely called Financial Planning for the New Millennium, is “part of an overall public awareness campaign” to promote financial planning and the FPA brand name. The campaign will be as much about consumer education as it is about ad-vertising, he says.
The final approval for the campaign was given at the last Board meeting of the FPA, held on 28 September.
Earlier this year, the Board rejected the launch of an advertising campaign that was based on the heavy promotion of its certified financial planner (CFP) designation.
McKenna says the recent findings of a report commissioned by the FPA showed community awareness of CFP was not yet at the level where it was able to be the focus of a stand-alone marketing effort.
“The report found the FPA gives credibility to the CFP designation,” McKenna says.
However, McKenna says that while the initial emphasis of the campaign will be on the FPA brand name, CFP would not be ignored.
“It’s essentially the same campaign, but the emphasis has changed a bit. We will be introducing CFP as the highest accreditation for planners. Initially, there will not be a heavy emphasis on this, but the idea will be introduced. Over time, the FPA will more heavily promote CFP.”
To coincide with its marketing effort, the FPA has launched their new look web site in Melbourne and Sydney this week. The site now contains financial planning ‘road tests’ for consumers, as well as a member referral service.
McKenna says the FPA has worked “very hard over the years to promote consumer education”.
It was recently singled among industry groups in the financial services by the Aus-tralian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) at the launch of its own re-port into consumer education in the industry. ASIC chairman Alan Cameron told a media briefing the FPA’s Don’t Kiss Your Money Goodbye was a good example of educating consumers.
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