A lot more mass affluent investors know what a CFP is than was the case just a few months ago. That’s what an early study of the CFP Board’s four-year, $40 million advertising and brand awareness campaign shows, the board reported in a media briefing this week.
Just four months after the study launched back in April, 71% of mass affluent Americans surveyed were aware of the CFP designation, up from 63% at the start of the campaign.
The CFP Board began a study at the same time it launched its public awareness initiative. Research firm Marketing Evolution conducted 6,000 interviews over 16 weeks from April to August on behalf of the CFP Board. The target audience of the campaign is individuals with investable assets of $100,000 to $1 million, between the ages of 35 and 64. That group represents about 6% of the U.S. adult population, according to the CFP Board.
The study showed that respondents were not only more aware of the CFP marks, but their views of CFPs were more positive. There was an increase of 13 points in the percentage of respondents who rated CFPs as hardworking, and an eleven point increase in the share of respondents who said that CFPs are ethical, for example.
More respondents at the end of the 16-week period said they intended to find a CFP professional (an eight percentage point increase) and there was a seven-point jump in the share of respondents who said a CFP “offers high quality service.”
“I’m very pleased with these initial results,” said the CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller. Sue Davidson, executive vice president and managing director of Marketing Evolution, said “the big unexpected takeaway” from the campaign so far has been just how much the advertising has had an impact, given the relatively small size of the campaign. “It’s really challenging to change someone’s opinion in a short period of time” about a brand, she said. The positive results so far are “compelling,” she added.
Danielle Reed writes for Financial Planning.
