Evergreen Investments launched an advertising campaign Wednesday aimed at altering its image and raising mass awareness of the Wachovia Corp. unit.
Maryann Bruce, the president of Evergreen Services Inc., said it will advertise in The Wall Street Journal for the first time and, on television, will run shorter commercials more frequently as part of an attempt to change its image from mutual fund provider to investment manager.
Evergreen began advertising two years ago, Ms. Bruce said, after changing its name from Evergreen Funds to Evergreen Investments. The early campaigns helped increase brand awareness but have failed to distinguish the Charlotte investment manager's new direction.
"We felt it was critical [to go to a newspaper like the Journal] because we wanted to reach a broader audience that reaches all of our lines of business rather than specifically targeting one group," she said. "Our research has shown that we are still regarded more as a mutual fund company than as an asset management company, and part of the reason we changed our advertising strategy is to change that impression."
Evergreen has not increased its advertising budget, she said, and plans in the next few years merely to reallocate ad spending in order to accomplish its objectives.
Analysts described the new campaign as the logical next step for Wachovia to take as Evergreen develops.
"The campaign really highlights services over products," said Kevin Daniels, a Boston analyst. "This is the direction a lot of investment firms are taking. Once they are established with product, they want to highlight services so that they can more effectively cross-sell additional products to customers."
Ms. Bruce said that, though some of the ads still highlight products, most of them stress services and solutions.
"Each line of business is in a different stage of its evolution," she said. "Our television commercials are all about services, solutions, and the big picture. We want to change the perception of Evergreen in the industry."
In addition to the Journal, the print ads are to run in Institutional Investor, Pensions & Investments, and Registered Rep from March 9 through yearend. Before starting the campaign, Ms. Bruce said, Evergreen had run print advertising only in trade publications.
"A part of us wanted to reach consumers because they read The Wall Street Journal," she said. "But our target is still our three lines of business - retail, institutional, and wealth management. When we pick a periodical, we want it to support all of our constituents and increase brand awareness across the board."
Beginning March 21, Ms. Bruce said, Evergreen ads will begin to run in the Journal as part of a weekly package on the front of the paper's Money section that highlights top-performing stocks of the week.
Evergreen will run different ads highlighting its retail, institutional, and wealth management groups each week, she said.
The television ads were to run on cable channels, including ESPN and the USA Network, beginning Wednesday. Ms. Bruce said the commercials are intended to raise awareness of how Evergreen's commitment and disciplined investment management approach have translated into strong long-term performance.
"This year's campaign follows a natural evolution beyond brand development, recognizing that performance is a key driver in investment decisions by highlighting several specific product solutions that may help investors reach their long-term investment goals," Ms. Bruce said.
Evergreen, which has $247 billion of assets under management, developed the campaign with Mullen, the company's Winston-Salem, N.C., advertising agency of record.
