Compare The… Planner

The Financial Planning Association of Australia’s new advertising campaign has a distinct element of Compare the Pair about it.

The campaign, which is out for consultation among FPA members until April 2011, promotes the higher standards of FPA professional members to consumers and the industry, by asking the question: “Can you tell which financial planner has to place their client first?”

Underneath the tagline, the advertisement advises that most financial planners look the same, but only the one who is part of the FPA is bound by an enforceable Code of Professional Practice.

The Industry Super Network had huge success among consumers with Compare the Pair, which similarly demonstrated to consumers the marked difference between two seemingly identical super fund members.

Its successor campaign From Little Things, Big Things Grow was launched in August this year and focuses on the key message that industry funds are run only to benefit members, not shareholders.

The FPA announced the campaign along with a new brand identity and logo as part of what it is calling a ‘new strategic direction’ and a component of its move to position FPA members as trusted professionals.

In the proposed new strategy, from July 2011 onwards, the new brand and logo can only be used by FPA Professional Practices – those that have achieved high standards of FPA practitioner membership.

The campaign is smart in that it assists consumers unsure about where to go for advice, while promoting the benefits of choosing an FPA adviser – yet the concept is a tad ironic.

While the FPA’s campaign will highlight in a simplistic manner the difference choosing an FPA adviser can have on advice seekers, the Industry Super Network’s campaign highlighted in an equally simplistic manner the difference that paying commissions to financial planners made to a super fund member’s balance.

The Financial Services Council (FSC) recently employed a similar tactic with its Heart Foundation-like tick (or Trustmark) that helps consumers identify quality financial products and services that meet the FSC’s standards.

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA), on the other hand, is gathering member contributions to fund its ‘Make a Plan’ advertising campaign, extolling the virtues of financial advice.

The campaign will kick off next year in response to the industry super fund campaign, which the AFA believes fuels an unfair perception that advisers are opaque, self-motivated and untrustworthy.