Simon Crofts, Client Services Director at Big Button, shares his takeaways from this year’s IMEA Marketing Summit.
I attended the Investment Management Education Alliance (IMEA) Marketing Summit a few weeks ago, an exclusive event for asset management marketers from across North America. The conversations we joined showed a strong sense of agreement on the challenges we face and how the industry is responding. These were the standout themes.
Content that matters
Relevance came up repeatedly, with a shared view that content has to serve the audience rather than the organisation. That means being brave enough to retire material that no longer adds value. At the same time, the pressure to stand out is real. Many firms are producing similar PDFs, reports and commentaries, which makes differentiation more vital than ever, especially when competing with bigger players.
Centres of excellence
Teams are exploring new models to maintain high standards, and centres of excellence were highlighted as a way to bring efficiency, quality and consistency to a discipline. With video, there was clear agreement that it works best at the strategy level, earning more attention when it tells the bigger story rather than being tied to a single product or vehicle.
Measuring the right things
Success is not about clicks or impressions but about influence on assets under management. One example shared at the summit showed how inflows rose six weeks after a peak in related search activity, a measurable and statistically relevant link between marketing and investment behaviour.
Shifting channels
Channels are under review. Email is on the decline as click rates fall and Instagram is becoming the place for culture stories rather than professional updates. AI is reshaping search, and the expectation is that more traffic will come from AI engines and bots than human visitors. For search in particular, the focus is moving from discoverability to answerability.
Working with agencies
Agencies still play a key role, though the model is shifting. Many firms want to bring in external partners for the heavy lifting while building their own teams for other needs. Everyone agreed that sector experience is essential and that the right people matter more than anything else.
What resonates?
Two themes stood out for me because they align closely with how we think about video at Big Button. The first is the need to produce differentiated content that creates a competitive edge. The second is the importance of measuring marketing against outcomes that count.
This is how we approach every project and how we advise clients to think about their investment. It is also an approach that has earned us a top 20 ranking as a strategic video agency and exceptional client retention rates.
Thank you to the IMEA team for curating such a strong event. We look forward to joining you again next year.
If you’d like to learn more about how these emerging trends in video could be applied to your strategy, we’d love to hear from you.
