Building high-performing leadership teams is essential for business success, and this is arguably even more crucial in highly unusual operating environments. This week Twink talks about what makes a good leader and how teams can improve, as she’s joined by Andy Brown, Director at etc Advisory and Farley Thomas, Founder of True Dawn.

Find out more about:  

-          The growing importance of coaching and mentoring 

-          What makes a good leader

-          How the demands of leadership have changed over time 

-          Ways to improve team dynamic 

-          Tips for investment marketers working on their leadership skills

Andy Brown, Director of etc Advisory, provides transformative support for agency founders and leaders based on the three pillars of clarity, tools, and talent. With over 20 years’ experience in leadership roles, Andy is an accomplished adviser who thrives when working with enthusiastic and audacious people. 

Farley Thomas, Founder of True Dawn, is an experienced coach and leadership adviser, working with a diverse set of clients who lead high-growth businesses. Drawing on over two decades of achievement in leadership, Farley helps organisations grow by sparking valuable conversations, developing actionable insights and identifying and shifting unconstructive work patterns. 

The AIM High podcast is hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing and The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. Welcome to the AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. 

We shine a light on investment trusts this week, looking into what makes this a good investment choice, and why it is difficult to promote them. Twink is joined by Ross Duncton, Managing Director, Head of Marketing & Direct at BMO Global Asset Management (EMEA) and Annabel Brodie-Smith, Communications Director at Association of Investment Companies (AIC). This episode has been recorded remotely, following Covid-19 lockdown measures. 

Themes covered in this podcast

-          Why investment trusts are a good investment choice

-          The advantages of a closed-ended structure and who this will likely appeal to 

-          How the audience of investment trusts is changing over time

-          The difficulties with marketing investment trusts

-          How the F&C investment trust celebrated and marketed it’s 150-year milestone

 Ross Duncton is a highly experienced marketing lead with over 15 years’ experience working in the financial services industry. Heading marketing teams in other large financial firms such as Prudential and Acromas Financial services, Ross has a thorough understanding of all marketing competencies, product management, commercials and operational capabilities. 

 Communications Director at the AIC, Annabel Brodie-Smith manages the PR team whose role it is to communicate the uses and benefits of investment companies and VCTs to the media, advisers, wealth managers and private investors. In addition, Annabel is also responsible for co-ordinating the AIC’s RDR programme and overseeing the AIC’s adviser and training seminars. 

The AIM High podcast is hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing and The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. Welcome to the AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. 

In today’s episode Twink is joined by Stuart Alexander, Co-Founder and CEO of Gemini Investment Management as they address Fund Governance within the Investment Management industry. Although Fund Governance has always been around, it is only in the last twelve months it has become a more prevalent issue. High profile fund failures such as Neil Woodford and Peter Young, who cast a long shadow over the investment industry, are prime examples of the growing need for increased regulation and governance. 

Themes covered in this podcast: 

-          The growing importance of fund governance 

-          How Woodford changed the investment industry

-          The growing need for accountability across all areas of a business 

-          The roles and responsibilities of the management committee to ensure correct governance 

-          Marketers role within fund governance

 Stuart Alexander has over 30 years’ experience in the fund management industry, previously working at other large asset managers such as Invesco and Morgan Grenfell. As an experienced professional, he has successfully launched a number of businesses in the asset management industry and has overseen the growth of many of these businesses in the UK and globally. 

The AIM High podcast is hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing and The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. Welcome to the AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. 

We are joined by Courtney Waterman, Head of Creative Marketing at Ninety One (previously Investec Asset Management) to talk about creating a new asset management brand. Also in studio with Twink is Dan Cordoni, Associate Creative Director, and Richard Sherwell,  Client Partner at Publicis Sapient.  

 Themes covered in the podcast:

-          Unique challenges in creating a new brand 

-          Insights into stakeholder management 

-          How to brief your creative agency and work with them to deliver on it

-          The process and challenges of creating a brand name

-          Building brand identity, narrative and articulation 

 Courtney Waterman is a highly experienced marketer with over 25 years’ experience in asset management, leading marketing teams at firms such as Janus Henderson, Blackrock and Schroders. 

 Dan Cordoni is the Creative Lead at Publicis Sapient, a digital transformation partner helping established organisations get to their future digitally-enabled state. With more than 15 years’ experience operating at the boundary of design, strategy and technology, Dan joined Publicis Sapient over two years ago to help create highly relevant, beautifully crafted experiences that define brands and unlock business value.

 Richard Sherwell, Client Partner at Publicis Sapient’s Financial Services vertical, specialises in working with wealth and asset management clients. During the last 15 years he has led a variety of brand, marketing, creative campaign and technology engagements. He has worked at small, medium and large agencies, always focusing on the wealth and asset management sector.

The AIM High podcast is hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing and The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. Welcome to the AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. 

This week we discuss digital innovation in financial services. Twink is joined by Olivia Vinden, Head of Fintech and Innovation at Alpha FMC and Andrew Scott, Managing Director of White Marble Marketing.

Olivia leads Alpha’s UK fintech & innovation practice, advising on emerging technology and its impact on asset and wealth management operating models. She holds the MIT Fintech Certificate, is a member of the advisory panel of Velocity – the fintech accelerator from the Investment Association, and leads several client forums on innovation.

Andrew Scott joined White Marble in 2017 with experience spanning 20 years in the UK, most recently leading digital across Hermes, M&G and Investec Asset Management. He is highly experienced in working with major financial services brands to develop and implement digital strategies.

Themes covered in the podcast include:

- Building genuine customer experience through new platforms and harnessing AI

- Building new skills in teams to help overcome resistance to change and regulation barriers

- Fintech solutions to assess large data sets and the importance of clean data to implement new systems

- How AI fits into the marketing mix

- Knowing how to use data: actionable insights vs vanity measures

- Best practice: how to get started and implement change by getting your base data right, building your tech stack and implementing data points across the whole customer journey

The AIM High podcast is hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing and The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. Welcome to the AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. 

We discuss the impact of wellness on efficiency in the workplace. A topic not widely discussed until relatively recently, there is now growing understanding and openness about wellness in our lives. Our guest is Janice Benning, a resilience coach and a training director of NeuroVitality. She focuses on prevention rather than cure and promotes awareness and insight into resilience, well-being and prevention.  

The AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, White Marble Marketing CEO and Founder, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM), is part of the landscape of content and resources we create specifically for marketers within the investment management world. 

ESG, sustainability and impact are prominent themes on most investment managers’ agendas, alongside the need to differentiate their approach from that of their competitors. This week we discuss the opportunities and challenges for marketers as they help to shape their firms’ positioning in this regard.  

To help us make sense of it all, we’re joined by Lloyd McAllister, a Responsible Investment Analyst at Newton Investment Management, and Holly Mackay, founder of Boring Money. 

Themes covered in this podcast:
- Where the drive for ESG has come from
- The spectrum of ESG terms
- ESG trends
- Challenges to delivering credibility and authenticity in regards to ESG
- Pitfalls marketers make when trying to set out ESG credentials 
- How is this space evolving 

The AIM High podcast is hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing and The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. Welcome to the AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused on conversations with a range of investment industry experts talking about the opportunities and challenges of financial services, the evolution and impact of products, practical investment marketing insights and personal development for careers. 

Welcome to the AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is built around conversations with a range of experts talking about the industry, product, practical tips and personal development for marketers in the investment industry. 

AIM is passionate about marketing being recognised as an influential and strategic part of a business and provides investment marketers with resources, events and courses to help them improve industry knowledge, develop their careers and build their network.

Subscribe for alerts for AIM High, with a new episode every two weeks and find out more about what AIM offers at investmentmarketers.com

This week Twink is joined by Heather Hopkins from NextWealth and Fergus McCarthy from Standard Life Aberdeen, to discuss the UK advisory market. They bring insight for understanding who your clients are and what journey they’ve been on to get to this point.

Heather Hopkins is a data and research expert specialising in retail investment distribution, and founded NextWealth to help platforms, life companies, asset managers, financial advisers and technology companies see what’s next in wealth. Previously Heather has held positions including the head of Platforum, a market-research firm servicing the UK platform market owned by Centaur Media, and the head of research for Hitwise, an internet data analytics company, working from London and Tokyo.

Fergus McCarthy has more than 20 years' sales experience in the financial services industry, having worked in senior roles at BNY Mellon, Investec Asset Management, Martin Currie and AXA Investment Managers before joining Standard Life Aberdeen as UK Distribution Director. Leading the Regional Accounts team, he discusses utilising the breadth of his industry experience to deliver the Investment and Platform ambitions in the UK Wholesale market.

Themes covered in the podcast include:

• Helping advisors with customer acquisition

• Sales and marketing working together to bring the clients voice into the business

• Understanding the target market

• Creating consumer ready content

• Reaching advisors with shrinking sales teams

If you would like more information about market research into the industry, NextWealth and the Personal Finance Society (PFS) have published a comprehensive benchmarking study for financial advice businesses. It covers the profile of financial planners and their firms, the future of financial advice businesses, investment propositions, technology infrastructure and outsourced support.

You can download the free report here: https://investmentmarketers.com/podcast/aim-high-the-changing-uk-advisory-market/

Welcome to the AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, White Marble Marketing CEO and Founder, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is built on conversations with a range of experts talking about the sector, products, practical tips and personal development for marketers in the investment industry. 

AIM is passionate about marketing being recognised as an influential and strategic part of a business. It provides investment marketers with resources, events and courses to help them improve industry knowledge, develop their careers and build their network.

Subscribe for alerts for AIM High, with a new episode every two weeks and find out more about what AIM offers at investmentmarketers.com

This week we explore how to build strength and depth of talent in investment marketing teams with guests Charlotte Lamb, a highly experienced industry marketer, and Quentin Crowe, the Chief Learning Officer at AIM.

Charlotte Lamb is a highly motivated senior marketer with more than 17 years’ experience in asset management, leading marketing teams at firms including Janus Henderson Investors and Natixis. Having completed the AIM Leadership programme in 2019, she is focusing on how to apply her practical and learning experiences into strategic development.

Quentin established and built training businesses to help accelerate the careers of marketers at different stages of their development.  In particular, Quentin focuses on marketers at critical career cross-roads including promotion, redundancy, ‘glass ceilings’, returning from maternity leave. Quentin joined the AIM team as Chief Learning Officer in 2019. 

Join us for this insightful discussion covering:

• Finding the balance between technical skills and softer skills 
• The evolving role of the marketer within Asset Management
• Creative solutions to shrinking budgets and less resource
• Proving ROI and showing performance through data
• Building confidence in speaking up & shaking up existing processes
• Overcoming the common issue of imposter syndrome

Welcome to the AIM High podcast, hosted by Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble Marketing, for The Association of Investment Marketers (AIM). AIM creates content and resources designed specifically for marketers within the investment management world. The AIM High podcast is focused around conversations with a range of experts talking about the industry, product, practical tips and personal development for careers. 

AIM is passionate about marketing being recognised as an influential and strategic part of a business and provides investment marketers with resources, events and courses to help them improve industry knowledge, develop their careers and build their network.

Subscribe for alerts for AIM High, with a new episode every two weeks and find out more about what AIM offers at investmentmarketers.com

This week we are addressing diversity and inclusion within the Financial Services industry and Twink is joined by Bev Shah, CEO and Founder of City Hive and Dan Gilmore, Director of Last Word Media.

Bhavini ‘Bev’ Shah is Founder and CEO of City Hive, which is a Network for Change and a force for good within the asset and investment management industry. With more than 15 years of investment experience as a fund buyer at some of the world's largest financial institutions, she founded City Hive to lead the change needed to future-proof the investment management industry by empowering everyone to forge a more equitable and inclusive culture.

Dan Gilmore is a Director at Last Word Media, a leading global business information, live events, research and data provider to the global wealth and asset management industries. With 14 years’ experience within the industry, he’s experienced the changes and how it has evolved in relation to diversity, and speaks candidly within this podcast around his experiences.

Themes covered in the podcast include:

• Creating cultural change within the investment industry
• How reporting on ethnicity and sexuality actually impact investment outcomes
• Developing cognitive diversity
• How diversity in teams generates accessibility for a more diverse customer base
• Why people are choosing their investment manager in a different way now, expecting to look into the business and respect and trust it
• Owning the diversity messaging internally and making sure communication is consistent and clear