Situation

Nuveen was founded as an investment and municipal-bond company at the turn of the 20th century, and took a different approach from many companies of the day, with a belief that investments, big or small, can trigger ripples of positive impact to the surrounding areas if they are aligned with, not alien to, morality—an approach we now term “responsible investing,” or “R.I.”

Brief

While Nuveen essentially created the category, many financial institutions have made aggressive moves, with competitors introducing their first R.I. products. Given this pressure, we couldn’t afford to let the competition steal our leadership position and needed a powerful way to demonstrate, not just tell, our story.

Objectives

Force reappraisal about what R.I. is and trigger Financial Advisors to notice that Nuveen stands for something different. Rather than promoting products, we needed to attempt something bigger—to create radical reappraisal of what “wealth” actually means.

Our idea was to create new research that would change our audience’s world view on the way we think about wealth: not in the total amount of dollars accrued but rather the impact that it can have on the world for positive benefit. We would “rerank the rich” based on enrichment as our metric of success.

After weeks of negotiations with Forbes, we crossed the line from Ad sales to Editorial. Working with a team of 32 journalists researching public filings, tax forms, and press releases, and speaking to 400 members and nonprofits. It was painstaking work that took a full seven months to complete. Many recipients were also reticent, (as ultra high net worth individuals), to share their contributions.

Forbes had never allowed a brand to re-rank their list, but now we have shown in dramatic fashion that ordering people according to measures of philanthropy levels the playing field.

Data gathering

A team of 32 journalists researched public filings, tax forms, and press releases, and spoke to 400 members and nonprofits. It was painstaking work, and took a full seven months to complete. Many recipients were also reticent, (as ultra high net worth individuals), to share their contributions.

Data interpretation

We created a robust scoring methodology, calculating wealth vs philanthropy. Scoring also took into account whether an individual had signed the Giving Pledge, if the amounts were significant donations, how personally involved they were in charitable giving, and how quickly and effectively their private foundations distributed money. Announced gifts yet to be paid out were not included in the calculations.

Targeting

Using 1st party, custom, and industry research, we built a picture of their media diet. Advisors are elusive with many companies clamoring for their attention, so we built a tool that they valued (10x vs regular content, per Financial Times research), and then mapped content through their journey to Nuveen.com. We then took it one step further by integrating white papers demonstrating Nuveen’s philosophy in action to help bring the bigger picture to life for this audience, extending the campaign beyond Forbes O&O to scale the program.

Implementation

Scoring was tough—only 29 of America’s 400 richest received the highest possible score. To achieve that recognition, a person had to give away at least $1 billion and/or 20% of their total net worth!

Media channels and integration

We wove a seamless path from our ranking. Native units with thought leadership surrounded the ranking, with 20 editorial profiles featuring those making the most impact, with additional content around investing strategies and a custom insert in their nine-million-readership 400 issue.

Timeline

Launching a PR blitz that received 60-plus pickups on October 3rd, the campaign built through Q4. However as this is true editorial, our ranking remains in place and will be expanded in 2019.

Scale

Using first-party, custom, and industry research, we built our audience at scale, by integrating white papers demonstrating Nuveen’s philosophy in action across social platforms to extend the campaign way beyond Forbes O&O.

Instead of wealth deified, the mighty fell.

Donald Trump might boast of philanthropy, but the reality is different, dropping from 259 to the bottom 20%. Others rose. Women are critical drivers of impact, but underrepresented on the list. Take Oprah. While she ranks in the bottom 20% based on outright wealth, when looking at the impact she makes, she jumps into the top group.

We saw multiple action results, with record-setting time spent on articles and CTRs double Forbes benchmarks. We also delivered value: $12.3million in PR in the first week, with 156 million impressions in two weeks, and 53% of total visits to the destination page from this campaign.

Behaviors were affected. We forced reappraisal – with our Advisor target changing their perception of Nuveen with a 14% lift in favorability. This then drove the balance book—a 31% increase in Advisor recommendations for those exposed to the new ranking.