The campaign, “Who Knew,” running in print, television and online, tells investors that while they may know John Hancock as a leading insurance, long-term care and annuity provider, it also has four- and five-star
“Since Manulife’s acquisition of John Hancock in 2004, substantial effort has been put into expanding and improving the depth, breadth and performance of our offerings through fund adoptions, acquisitions, and new product development of both our affiliated John Hancock Asset Management team and our unaffiliated strategic partners,” said Keith F. Hartstein, president and CEO of John Hancock Funds.
“Our four- and five-star funds are a testament to the fact that we are delivering better performance results to shareholders, across a wider spectrum of offerings, than ever before,” Hartstein said. “Financial advisers are investors are taking notice of the improvements, as evidenced by last year’s record sales year in both gross and net sales.”
In one print spot, the first line reads, “ Mutual funds from John Hancock? Who knew?,” followed by, “Well, Morningstar knew.” In another print ad, the opening line is, “You probably don’t think of mutual funds when you think of John Hancock.” This is followed by: “See why you should.” Another ad begins, “You trust your experience, your instincts and the numbers,” followed by, “And let’s not forget Morningstar.”
Carey Foran Hoch, senior vice president and head of marketing for John Hancock Funds, said: “’Who Knew’ carries a brief and straightforward message: Let the performance and stars speak for the quality of our fund family. We want advisers and investors to become intrigued enough to visit out website for more detailed information about our funds, along with investment commentary, calculators and other financial planning tools.”
Print ads are running through mid-June in sister publication Financial Planning, as well as Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, Registered Rep, Investment Advisor and PlanSponsor. Television ads are running through the end of June on Bloomberg, CNBC and Fox Business. Online ads will appear in this timeframe on Bloomberg.com, LinkedIn.com, Morningstar.com, Nasdaq.com, NYTimes.com and TheStreet.com.
As part of the campaign, John Hancock Funds is planning a webinar featuring its management team and hosted by Morningstar in April.
