Fund marketers embrace a print link to video

Trying to attract the attention of advisers, OppenheimerFunds Inc., Ivy Funds and MFS Investment Management are among the…

Trying to attract the attention of advisers, OppenheimerFunds Inc., Ivy Funds and MFS Investment Management are among the first mutual fund companies to embed “quick response” codes in their print ads and marketing materials — and experts predict it's only a matter of time before more firms follow suit.

Also known as scan tags, the codes — black modules set in a square pattern — can be scanned by readers using smart phones to connect to information or commentary posted online by the firms. While consumer goods marketers have used such ads for some time, the codes are just now starting to gain traction among financial services firms, experts said.

“It's such a personal business,” said Dave Swanson, founder and managing principal of SwanDog Strategic Marketing LLC, which worked with Ivy on its ads. “Everyone is trying to figure out how to bring a video element to all things print.”

While the ads may turn some heads because of their novelty, the trick for mutual fund companies will be to make the information relevant enough that viewers will want to continue to scan the codes when they see them, Mr. Swanson said.

COMPELLING INFO?

H. Jude Boudreau, a registered investment adviser at Upperline Financial Planning LLC, said he has scanned QR ads for vacation destinations. “If I want to see more pictures of someplace, I will scan it,” he said. “But I can't imagine it being compelling to scan on a code from a fund company.”

With QR ads, fund companies can push timely information to advisers, said Martha B. Willis, chief marketing officer at OppenheimerFunds. In September, the firm launched a QR campaign promoting the portfolio managers of its Rochester municipal bond fund in adviser-targeted magazines. With QR ads, Oppenheimer can update the videos linked to the codes so that advisers can hear comments from the firm's portfolio managers about, for instance, the recent skittishness over municipal bonds, Ms. Willis said.

The ads have run 19 times, resulting in video downloads by more than 700 readers who scanned the codes, more than double what Ms. Willis expected. “These codes don't take a lot of space in our ads and are a cost-effective way of getting our fund managers out there,” she said..

In October, MFS started using QR codes in brochures and other marketing materials for advisers. It embeds the codes on the Morningstar Inc. reports on its funds which are sent to advisers so they can link to MFS managers' commentary.

“For asset management firms particularly, there is a lot of value in taking materials that were once static, and creating pieces around it that are as fresh as possible,” said Bill Finnegan, a senior managing director at MFS.

While a little less than 1% of viewers downloaded MFS' September ads, 80% of those views occurred within the first week of receiving the mailer, said Dan Flaherty, an MFS spokesman, noting that this speaks to the immediacy of the technology.

MFS is discussing using QR codes in ads and, if regulators allow, in legal documents such as fund prospectuses, Mr. Finnegan said. “So if someone has an old prospectus, they could still link to updated commentary about the fund,” he said.

Ivy Funds early next year will launch an advertising campaign that will include QR ads, said Lori Dorsey, senior vice president and director of marketing.

“There are so many people today with smart phones that this just makes sense,” she said. But Ms. Dorsey realizes that while people may click on the codes initially for the sheer novelty of it, that soon will wear off.

“Firms can't just provide a link to their sites; we have to provide information that is not just interesting but engaging, and makes the viewer want to come back,” she said.

Ms. Dorsey declined to provide details about Ivy's QR ads or where they will link, but she did say that there will be some manager commentary.

Some advisers are excited to see that fund companies are looking for ways to push information to their smart phones.

“I get so inundated with e-mails that it would be nice to just click on something and view manager commentary while I am commuting home,” said Sabrina Lowell, an adviser with Mosaic Financial Partners, which manages $375 million in assets.

E-mail Jessica Toonkel at [email protected].