Pru Steals Spotlight at 18th Annual FCS Portfolio Awards

Here's the official post-event press release for this year's FCS Portfolio Awards:

Citi and Bank of America Merrill Lynch Vie for Top Honors at 18th Annual FCS Portfolio Awards

But Prudential Steals Spotlight with 3 Best in Show Wins

• Financial Communications Society recognizes 32 companies for excellence in financial services advertising, collateral, digital media, ROI and public relations
• Best in Show Awards won by Prudential, Fidelity and Allstate
• State Street Global Advisors Shines with 5 Gold Trophies

More than 30 financial marketers were honored at the 18th Annual FCS Annual Portfolio Awards, as 107 trophies were awarded during the gala event on Wednesday, May 16th. Held for fourth consecutive year at Terminal 5, one of New York City’s premier concert venues, the Portfolio Awards is produced by the Financial Communications Society (FCS) to recognize excellence in financial advertising, collateral, digital media, public relations, and return on investment. The marketing and communications work honored was executed during the 2011 calendar year.
Citi, including its Citibank and Citigroup brands, garnered a total of 14 awards, including an event-high 6 Gold trophies. Bank of America Merrill Lynch (including its Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and U.S. Trust brands) also scored 14 awards, with 7 Silver trophies and 7 Bronze trophies. State Street Global Advisors also made an impressive showing with a total of 11 awards including 5 Gold trophies.
But it was Prudential who shined brightest with 3 Best in Show Awards – a first time feat for any marketer in the 18 year history of the FCS Portfolio Awards. Capping off 4 Gold trophies, a Silver and a Bronze, Prudential won Best in Show in the Corporate Image category for its Day One TV Campaign (created with Droga5) and Best in Show in the Digital Media category for its Day One web site (created in-house). Pru’s “African American Financial Experience” multimedia campaign won Best in Show in the Multicultural category.
Best in Show for the Business to Business category was won by Fidelity Institutional Wealth Management for its “In Pursuit of Independence” direct mail campaign (created in-house). Best in Show in the Consumer Retail category was won by Allstate for its “Digital Locker” web site (created by IQ). Best in Show trophies are awarded based on the highest average scores of the FCS Portfolio Awards judging panel, which consisted of 21 senior executives from financial firms and communications agencies. (List of 2012 judges.)

• For a full list of award winners, email me at kevin@fcsinteractive.com.

The FCS Portfolio Awards Gala, considered the largest and most prestigious annual gathering of financial marketers in the world, attracted nearly 450 guests from the advertising, PR, media, design, and financial industries. This year’s awards were presented by Paul Alexander, SVP/Communications, Liberty Mutual Insurance; Jim Speros, CMO, Fidelity Investments; and Marty Willis, CMO, OppenheimerFunds.
The FCS Portfolio Awards Gala Committee was chaired by Dave Briggs, Newspaper National Network; Elizabeth Brooks, The Wall Street Journal, and John Derbick, MetLife. This year’s event was sponsored by more than a dozen major media firms, including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg, The Economist, and Investor’s Business Daily/investors.com.
Following a cocktail reception, sponsored by The Financial Times, and a buffet dinner sponsored by Forbes, FCS President Kevin Windorf welcomed the audience with a satirical music video called “I Want A Gold.” To view the video, click here.
The annual FCS Portfolio Awards gala serves as a significant fundraising event for the FCS, which supports three children’s charities. During the gala, the FCS presented a check for $150,000 to be shared equally by Hope & Heroes Children’s Cancer Fund, the Make A Wish Foundation of Vermont, and Downey Side Adoption Agency. The funds are raised primarily during the FCS’s annual charity ski weekend at the Stowe Mountain Resort. Representatives from the charities and the Resort were welcomed onstage for the check presentation by the co-chairs for the FCS Race for Kids: Tim Hart of FT and VP of the FCS Board; and Ahmed Yearwood of Y Interact and Digital Media Officer of the FCS Board. Since the FCS became the title sponsor of the Race for Kids, the FCS has donated more than $1.65MM to these three charities.
This year’s Awards competition included nearly 300 entries, with Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies awarded to ROI, Public Relations, Collateral, Web Sites, and Advertising in print, television, out-of-home, direct mail, interactive and multimedia categories. Winning entries were received from financial services providers, including investment firms, credit card companies, investment banks, brokerages and exchanges, insurance companies, mutual funds, ETFs, hedge funds, accounting firms, clearing corporations and commercial banks.

Lincoln’s Wozniak Takes Charge at Luncheon

On Thursday, April 19th, Dave Wozniak took to the podium to tell an audience of attentive FCS members and guests how valuable it is for people to take charge of their lives. As the head of advertising for Lincoln Financial, Wozniak cited research that showed that people who feel they are in charge are more likely to make effective decisions regarding their financial planning.

Research is a key imperative for the marketing team at Lincoln, a Fortune 250 company. Wozniak, who traveled from the company’s headquarters outside Philadelphia to speak at the FCS April luncheon at the New York Yacht Club, underscored the team’s integration of research in their planning and executions. “We use it all the way. We never do anything in a vacuum.”

Following the financial crisis, Lincoln’s research measured the great distrust people had for financial institutions and for financial advisors. But the company’s proprietary “Mood in America” study taken last November showed that people are now highly optimistic. For Lincoln, the study’s key insight was that people want to take charge of their future. Two-thirds of adults feel they’re in control of the Personal, Financial and Health decisions in their lives. Lincoln was able to validate that this group of “in-charge” people ideally suited both financially and emotionally as prospects for Lincoln's products. As the nation’s 2nd largest provider of life insurance and 4th largest provider of annuities, Lincoln is well aware of the challenges in selling products that people generally don’t wish to speak about, let alone make decisions about.

Wozniak explained that this research enabled Lincoln to create a new positioning – Lincoln would become the brand of empowerment, putting its clients in control. With its straightforward value proposition, “Lincoln helps people take charge of their future.”

Still, Wozniak recognizes the marketing challenges that Lincoln faces. Despite being a 107 year old company, the brand “Lincoln Financial Group” was established only 14 years ago. Furthermore, Lincoln has only a 5% share of voice in the marketplace.

To address these challenges while bringing to life its brand position, Lincoln evolved its 2007 “Futureself” advertising campaign into the new “Chief ___ Officer” creative which accentuates the “You’re in Charge” tagline. Wozniak described for the audience the various executions of Lincoln’s fully integrated campaign of 360° touchpoints, including a highly successful employee communications campaign.

Since Lincoln sells its products 100% through intermediaries, Wozniak emphasized the importance of increasing awareness. Again citing research, he noted that “a financial advisor’s sale is made that much easier when a brand is known and trusted.”

In addition to viewing commercials and print and digital ads for the audience, Wozniak presented a clip of an edgy commercial parody of Lincoln’s “Futureself” campaign which ran on Saturday Night Live. Wozniak admitted that, despite drawing much internal concern at Lincoln, the parody brought a significant amount of brand awareness to the company and confirmed that its “Futureself” campaign had broken through the category clutter and made a memorable impact.

Wozniak proved that Lincoln’s marketing team knows how to take charge of an opportunity as well.

Marketing to Baby Boomers Busted at FCS Education Summit

More than 100 marketing, communications and media professionals gathered on the 30th Floor of the Reuters building on April 11th for a full morning of discussion around Baby Boomers. Attracted by the spectacular view overlooking Times Square and engaged by the visions shared by the presenters and panelists, the audience was the largest ever for the annual FCS Executive Education Summit.

 With the theme, Baby Boomer… Or Bust: How to Market to and Influence the 50+ Consumer, the Summit staged four hours of presentations and panel discussions along with compelling Q&A with the attendees.

The agenda kicked off with a keynote talk by Brent Bouchez, industry veteran and co-founder of Five 0, a strategic communications agency created specifically to help client firms reach, understand and influence the Baby Boomer generation, a demographic that earns more than $2.7 trillion annually.

Titling his presentation, “Framing The Issue, Why The 50+ Target Counts,” Bouchez shared numerous eye-opening stats with the FCS members and guests, including: 

• The average age of a Mac buyer is 54.
• The average age of a new car purchaser is 56. (In fact, the 50+ crowd purchase 63% of new cars.)
• The average age of an American Express cardholder is 57.
  Bouchez contrasted these points with the fact that the average age of a media buyer is only 28.

He went on to highlight other anomalies between the perception of “the older generation” and reality. For example, there’s the perception that “age breeds financial conservatism,” when in fact 50+ investors have helped define new product categories in financial services. He also pointed out the fallacy that “older people don’t try new brands” – yet it is the Boomer generation which grew up with brand experimentation and proliferation. Bouchez continued to punch holes in the false beliefs that “the golden years are for rest and relaxation” (is anyone in their 50’s really ready to retire?), and that “over 50 isn’t cool because we live in a youth-driven culture” (he cited countless 50+ celebrities who remain leading influencers across the arts).

Bouchez made two major points that drove home the challenges for financial services – and all industries – in reaching the 50+ consumer. 

1. While a Baby Boomer claims to feel 10 years younger, it doesn’t mean he or she thinks like a 40 year old.
2. The world has changed – along with age perceptions of the 50+ consumer… BUT, marketing has not changed in step.

The first panel of the day discussed “Best Practices in Marketing Financial Services to 50+ Consumers.” The stellar line-up included: 

• Benji Baer, Managing Director, CMO, JP Morgan Chase Retirement Group
• Jamie DePeau, Corporate CMO, Lincoln Financial
• Kim Sharan, President, Financial Planning & Wealth Strategies, CMO, Ameriprise Financial
• Scott Dingwell, Director, Head of Defined Contribution Communications, BlackRockLou Rubin of Outgrowth Consulting, who led the FCS Summit committee on creating the event, moderated the panel.

Here are a few highlights: 

• Baer noted that, with more risk to relying on Social Security as an integral part of retirement planning, people have increased their reliance on employer 401(k) plans. Still, she feels that consumers are generally “ill-equipped” for retirement. To combat the limited number of retirement tools available to consumers, Baer noted that JP Morgan’s Retirement Group was focusing on prepackaging products in its retirement service to better provide clients with options that are easy to activate. 
• Dingwell seconded the rising importance of 401(k) plans, but commented that the marketing spend to promote 401(k) plans is “minuscule” and that he is “amazed at how ineffective the employee engagement has been within corporations.” 
• Discussing the emotional components involved in reaching the Baby Boomer generation, both DePeau and Sharan felt current marketing approaches are misguided. DePeau said, “Shame on us. We treat Boomers as if they have the same demographic and psychographics as younger generations.” “Retirement is not the be all and end all for their future,” Sharan said of Boomers, adding, “Boomers don't want to play on the beach.”
• What the 50+ consumer wants is “peace of mind,” according to DePeau. She elaborated to explain that Boomers are “offended by fear” and that financial marketers who promote their retirement planning and insurance products with advertising that plays off of fear are actually offending their target audience.
• Sharan sees this mistake as an opportunity to “reinvent financial planning.” With “confidence and optimism at an all-time low,” Sharan said that “more advertising dollars” is not what’s needed, but “delivering an exceptional experience” for the consumer will differentiate a financial services firm’s marketing. Sharan also pointed out several supporting results from Ameriprise’s recent “Money Across Generations” study, and underscored the importance of properly training financial advisors in addressing the needs of the 50+ consumer.

The second presenter of the Summit was Dr. Joseph Coughlin, Director of the AgeLab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of the on-line publication Disruptive Demographics. Through his work, Coughlin seeks to understand how demographic change, social trends and technology converge to drive future innovations in business and government. His presentation was called “Retiring Retirement & Crafting a New Story of Financial Services & Longevity.” Among the findings that Dr. Coughlin shared with the audience was that a person’s well-being was at its lowest during the period of age 37 through 57.

He used numerous factoids to help paint the profile of the Baby Boomers – a study in contrasts from popular perception and expectation. One example was that the fastest growing segment on the Internet is women aged 45 and above.

Coughlin also spoke to the notion that Boomers are not looking for retirement to be a period of idleness. He noted that the most popular retirement communities in the U.S. have been created in established “college towns” or near colleges – because “Baby Boomers want activity, they want intellectual stimulation.”

The second panel at the Summit spoke to the topic “Using Digital to Reach the 50+ Financial Services User.” The line-up of executives included:

• Liesl Leach, Executive Director, Head of Digital Marketing, JPMorgan Investment Management
• Larry Nagel, Director, Online Marketing, MetLife
• Eric van den Heuvel, Director Channel Planning, The Gate Worldwide
• Michael Venables, Group Planning Director at Neo@OgilvyThe panel was moderated by Rupal Parekh, Agency Editor, Advertising Age. 

Here's a roundup of their comments:

• Van den Heuvel dove right into the discussion by stating that “financial marketers need to start with the assumption that people don't trust them anymore.” He noted, “Baby Boomers trust referrals, they don't trust advertising.” Echoing an indictment against commonplace ad creative, van den Heuvel commented that Boomers are offended by ads that show “old people.” He challenged that a marketer’s “message should be timeless and age agnostic.” Zeroing in on a digital strategy to reach Boomers, van den Heuvel suggested, “the biggest fallacy is that if an ad isn't clicked, it isn't working.” He expounded on the value of an online presence for financial services firms. 
• Nagel supported the role of a digital presence as part of the marketing mix, including social media. He explained that MetLife focused on the back end of handling inbound-communications on Facebook as well as on its own mobile site before launching either presence. The goal was “to ensure control of the dialogue with consumers.” The imperative for Nagel is “to keep the brand safe.”
• Leach agreed that there is significant “brand consideration” when incorporating social media into the marketing mix. She lauded Amazon as a “great marketing model” for its “use of personal interests to create relevance in communicating” to the consumer.
• Van den Heuvel supported this comment by encouraging financial marketers to “Amazon your website… and stop selling products and begin communicating with solutions.”
• While Venables pointed out the parallel between marketing to Baby Boomers and diversity-based marketing – with their mutual mandate for inclusiveness – he offered a compelling observation about the 50+ consumer and the Internet: “Baby Boomers have the most tightly bound social networks of all generations, because of their longevity and the fact that, for the most part, those networks were founded offline.”

Lou Rubin returned to the stage to wrap up the Summit, providing his observations and a synthesis of the many excellent lessons shared throughout the event by the speakers and panelists, as well as the audience.

This year’s Summit was generously sponsored by The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, and hosted by Reuters.

Citi Reimagined

Greeted by one of the largest monthly luncheon audiences at an FCS event, Michelle Peluso took to the podium last Thursday (March 22) at the New York Yacht Club and gave a powerful presentation on the resurgence of global marketing at Citibank. As the Chief Marketing & Internet Officer for Citi’s Global Consumer division, Peluso addressed the crowd of nearly 180 FCS members and guests about the phoenix-like rise of Citi, since the crisis of 2008 that reshaped the competitive landscape of the financial industry.

Peluso spoke candidly about the emotional toll on employees as Citi was devastated by the crisis – as measured by its stock price, customer feedback, market share and financial stability. Yet, from a near zero marketing spend only three years ago, Citi has slowly regrouped, and patiently re-entered the marketplace to carefully repair and rebuild its reputation and its relationship with its customers around the world. Peluso explained how, from 2009 to 2011, Citi’s net-promoter scores have dramatically improved in three key categories: banking, mortgages, and credit cards.

Peluso’s presentation focused on several tenets that her global marketing team diligently pursues in order to achieve, what she called, “banking reimagined for the way you live today.” With the Citi’s reputation so badly damaged during the financial crisis, Peluso spoke about the need to “focus on being excellent in our clients’ eyes” in all that Citi does. This mantra of excellence is carried across the marketing disciplines within Citi’s Global Consumer division, from its branch banking services to its online offerings, from its branding and advertising to its social media presence.

Peluso declared that Citi’s return to a trustworthy relationship with its customers must be founded on “clear and distinguished value propositions.” To illustrate examples of such propositions and how they are being communicated, Peluso viewed three current TV commercials for the audience, highlighting two Citi credit cards, the Simplicity Card and the Thank You Card. She explained the importance of rewards as well as manageable interest rates in the offer of these consumer products. To view the commercials, click on these links:

• Citi: Accessories (Woman Mountain-Climber)
• Citi: Band Camp
• Citi: Make-Up Artist

One tenet that Peluso was especially passionate about was the desire to “lead by design.” Borrowing a page from Apple, perhaps, Citi’s retail efforts under Peluso are focusing on the value that design brings to the consumer experience. Peluso provided several examples: to achieve “Smart Banking,” Citi took a fresh look at its branch network and redesigned the physical facilities to better accommodate in-person customers by providing a place where they can be more comfortable, and not just pass through. The goal would be for a Citi branch to be as welcoming as a Starbucks or Barnes & Noble. The new branch design would pick up the “Blue Wave” motif unified by the revitalized advertising campaign in print, on-air and online.

A new overhaul to create a “Smart ATM” will reconfigure the customer interface of the traditional teller machine buttons to a new iPad-like experience. Likewise, Citi’s iPad app has been updated to offer a more intuitive user design, with the goal of providing a best in class experience. On its website, Citi attained “Smart Online Banking” by removing more than 140 links that it no longer believed enhanced customers’ time on its pages.

The technology-minded marketing that is driving Citi’s resurgence is also evident is Peluso’s tenets of providing “personalized digital marketing” through key partnerships with third party leaders such as LinkedIn, as well as “outpacing the competition in social media.” On the social media front, Peluso acknowledged that Citi monitors several hundred online conversations as part of its customer service and marketing efforts. At the forefront of this effort is Citi’s Twitter presence, @AskCiti. Peluso noted that the mandate for the social online experience is simply “Listen, Service, Engage.”

The results of Peluso’s successful marketing strategy and the bank’s well-conceived ramp up in marketing spend have been a measurable increase in both share of voice and brand momentum, two key factors in helping Citi regain a foothold with consumers’ trust, relationship-building, and financial partnership.

Michelle Peluso’s presentation to the FCS underscored Citi’s commitment to return to a cross-category leadership role in defining how financial marketers can best serve their customers.

CEO Exits… Enter Trouble

Since the financial crisis, the corner office of many financial institutions has become a highly visible revolving door, with consequences impacting more than just the careers of one-time CEOs. With this backdrop, the FCS today staged a Tuesday Breakfast Club presentation and panel discussion on “Communicating Critical Events: CEO Transitions and Risk to Enterprise Value.” FTI Consulting served as the presenting sponsor, with Bryan Armstrong, Managing Director of its Strategic Communications practice, introducing compelling research about the connections between CEOs and corporate financial performance.

Armstrong pointed out that “public company CEOs in North America face particularly strong pressure from Wall Street, which has resulted in higher than average CEO turnover.” FTI’s research shows that 43% of CEO transitions are unplanned, due to either resignations or special situations, which includes fraud, strategic transformation, death or health issues, bankruptcy/restructuring, and miscellaneous crisis (e.g., scandals). Noting that one of the main roles of a public company’s CEO is to communicate strategic objectives and performance results to the investor community, Armstrong explained that 32% of investment decisions are based on the perception of a CEO – underscoring the importance of that CEO’s reputation.

How to protect and promote a CEO's reputation became the topic of the panel discussion that followed the research presentation. Moderated by The Wall Street Journal’s Francesco Guerrera (currentaccount@wsj.com), editor of “Money & Investing,” the panel addressed the concerns of succession planning, employee and external communications, media exposure, and the role of the Board of Directors.

Here are some highlights of the panelists’ observations:

Elizabeth Saunders, Chairman, Strategic Communications, FTI Consulting:

• The Street [Wall Street buy-side analysts] wants more exposure to more executives, deeper in the organization, knowing that they represent potential successors. “But with more exposure, there’s more risk.”
• It’s the communications professional’s job “to know the new CEO’s background very deeply.”
• Another key function for the communication professional is “to assess the most dangerous audience” and prepare specifically for that stakeholder group.
• Dealing with an unplanned transition is “where internal communications professionals earn their stripes.”

Jeanne Branthover, Managing Director, Boyden Global Executive Search

• “Succession must be planned at every level of management, from bottom to top.”
• Communications about succession “must be early and always transparent.”
• “We’re seeing CEO run-off competition more and more.” The practice of pitting two or three internal candidates for the CEO job “can be very healthy and positive for the company.” The candidates want to do their best, so productivity improves. Plus “a run-off attracts news attention,” with everyone now watching for the better candidate to win.

Matt Hickerson, Managing Director, Head of Corporate Communications & Marketing, Macquarie Group, Americas

• Two of the biggest challenges facing an internal communications team are timing and messaging: “they’re usually brought in very late” [when there’s been an unplanned CEO transition], and “there are often competing loyalties among the departing CEO, the new CEO or even several internal candidates.”

The panelists also handled questions from the audience, that touched on the consequences of other C-suite executive departures (e.g, CFOs, Division Chairmen), how Board Directors react when their own reputations are threatened during CEO transitions, and how best to orchestrate a communications plan across in-house and external professionals.

Guerrera cited several cases of recent CEO transitions at financial companies that were not handled well, resulting in damaged reputations for the firms, as well as the incoming and outgoing CEOs. Each panelist also offered real-life examples of CEO transitions that offered undeniable lessons for communications professionals, working for both internal corporate teams and PR agencies.

For more information on the research presented by FTI Consulting, please visit: http://www.ceotransitionstudy.com/.

Advertising is Never Child’s Play for E*TRADE and Nick Utton

Yesterday, more than 120 FCS Members and guests packed into our February luncheon at the New York Yacht Club to see a presentation about babies and the Super Bowl. Of course, the speaker could only be Nick Utton, Chief Marketing Officer of E*TRADE.

During his remarks, Utton explained the birth and maturing of the now legendary E*TRADE Baby commercials, but also provided a deeply insightful look behind the scenes at how “scientifically” E*TRADE tests, reviews, and executes its advertising.

With a presentation titled, “The Race for Marketing Optimization,” Utton reviewed for the audience the important tenets that drive the development for all E*TRADE campaigns. He began by stating that “marketing is the science of logic” and founded in the fundamental “4 Ps”: product, price, place, promotion. Referring to the classic AIDA model (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action), Utton emphasized how advertising must drive to Action – something that is often lost when a campaign uses humor to break through clutter and focuses on awareness/brand personality alone.

Utton warned that a major challenge in the voice and messaging of financial advertising lies in the proper balance of emotion and reason. He feels that too many ads in the category are “magnificently rational” yet “emotionally bankrupt.”

In a highly competitive category, where E*TRADE is outspent by four of its competitors, Utton pointed out that “brand differentiation is everything.” E*TRADE relies on its ad campaigns to underscore the company’s distinctiveness, and Utton’s mission is to maximize his media spend so that “every $1 spent works like $2 to $3.”

Over 8 years, Utton has moved E*TRADE’s marketing spend from 10% online to approximately 37%, a strategy designed to acquire prospects more effectively and efficiently. Despite that, Utton credited “word of mouth” as the most effective factor in influencing prospects to consider E*TRADE, followed by television. However, neither of those avenues can be measured with the precision of digital advertising, and measure is something E*TRADE likes to do. Utton provided several examples of how E*TRADE “does lots of testing” and measures everything from CPA (cost per acquisition) online, to site analytics for its various web pages, from the effectiveness of buttons vs. banners, to the value of different media categories, such as news and sports.

In reviewing the E*TRADE Baby ads, Utton explained that the next step is a series of television spots tied to life events, e.g., marriage, retirement, births. His very entertaining reel of past spots included the “Speed Dating” commercial that aired during this year’s Super Bowl (btw: Giants 21, Pats 17). Utton also discussed the tremendous publicity garnered for the company through a highly effective PR campaign that placed the E*TRADE Babies in high visibility media coverage, including NFL playoff games, entertainment news coverage, and both the mainstream and financial press.

Utton also explained the strategy behind upcoming campaigns that don’t feature the Babies, but focus on product demos to promote the company’s new 360, Pro, and Retirement services.

Taking questions from the audience, Utton noted that, to date, three babies have been used over the life of the television campaign, with each baby-actor having a “shelf life of about 18 months before growing too old.” He also commented on how price and service are the two main factors for competitive advantage among online brokerages, and how volatility in the stock market (VIX) can be an indicator for new account activity for E*TRADE.

As a past winner of the FCS Financial Marketer of the Year, Utton proved once again that he is a masterful CMO, successfully managing the significant brand value of a treasured advertising campaign through wildly competitive times.

BONUS:  Did you know that the E*TRADE babies make cameos in the 2010 and 2011 FCS Portfolio Awards Music Videos?  Click on the links in the right-hand column to check them out on YouTube.

Surge of Activities at the FCS

What do Super Bowl commercials, Baby Boomers, CEO firings, tuxedos, Chief Life Officers and the Internet have in common?
The FCS, of course.  Read on to find out why.

On Thursday, February 23, the FCS will welcome Nick Utton, CMO of E*TRADE, as the featured speaker at our monthly luncheon. Nick will be on hand to present a review of the legendary E*TRADE Baby commercials and to discuss how a super Super Bowl strategy has been a touchdown for E*TRADE year after year.

Our first Tuesday Breakfast Club event of 2012 will be held on February 28th. Join us at the New York Yacht Club for a very engaging presentation and discussion on “Communicating Critical Events: CEO Transitions and the Risk to Enterprise Value.” Research will be presented by FTI Consulting’s Bryan Armstrong, Managing Director & Head of Capital Markets Research, followed by a panel featuring his colleague Elizabeth Saunders, Americas Chairman of the FTI Strategic Communications Practice, as well as Matt Hickerson, Head of Corporate Communications & Marketing, Macquarie, and Jeanne Branthover, Head of Global Financial Services Practice, Boyden Global Executive Search. The panel will be moderated by Franceso Guerrera, Editor, “Money & Investing,” The Wall Street Journal.

On Thursday, March 22, Michelle Peluso will join our monthly luncheon to talk about Citi’s global marketing strategy for 2012 – the bicentennial year for the bank. As the bank’s Global Consumer Chief Marketing & Internet Officer, she’ll talk about how a digital strategy is a key component for Citi’s marketing approach.

In April, we have two main events. On the 11th, we’ll stage the FCS Executive Education Summit at 3 Times Square, home of our host, Thomson Reuters. The very compelling topic will be, “Baby Boomers… or Bust: How to Market to and Influence the 50+ Consumer.” The full-morning agenda will feature presentations by Joe Coughlin, who founded MIT’s AgeLab, and Brent Bouchez, co-founder of Five-0, an agency dedicated to marketing to baby boomers. We’ll have two panels, moderated by journalists from Ad Age and our presenting sponsor The Wall Street Journal. Panelists from leading financial companies will discuss how they’re overcoming the challenges of reaching the 50+ consumer, including the implementation of effective and perhaps surprising digital tactics.

Our monthly luncheon in April will take place on the 19th and feature Dave Wozniak of Lincoln Financial. Dave will report of Lincoln’s new “Chief Life Officer” campaign.

All of this activity is leading up to the “Egg McMuffin” of FCS’ events: the 18th Annual FCS Portfolio Awards. This year’s black tie gala dinner and awards presentation will be held on Wednesday, May 16th at Terminal 5 in NYC. But, at this point, the far-more-important date is Friday, March 16th. That’s the deadline to enter this year’s competition. Whether you’re a marketer, an agency pro or a media rep, you should be thinking about the great advertising, collateral and public relations work executed in 2011 and get your team – or your clients – to enter. Digital media (online ads and websites) continue to grow as one of the most competitive categories. And remember, we also give out trophies for Return on Investment. And, there’s a Best in Show award for Multicultural work. To download the Call for Entries form, just go to our web site and click on the Portfolio Awards tab.
As always, we invite you to get involved in the FCS. As the biggest event of the year, Portfolio has the biggest to-do list and needs the biggest committee. But you don’t have to take on the biggest task. There’s always a way to help, no matter how big (or how limited) your involvement can be.

And of course, we’re always looking for Programming ideas and support, from luncheons and breakfasts to cocktail receptions and special events.

Give me a call (212-413-6044) or drop me an email (kevin@fcsinteractive.com) to talk about how you can get more out of your FCS membership.