Asset managers mainly promoting insights in Europe during Q4

Europe still the frontrunner in ESG with now more than 60 advertisers actively promoting ESG

Key points:

Insights were the most popular ad purpose in Europe, followed by brand and fund promotion
More than 60 advertisers were involved in ESG advertising in Europe, an all-time high
Q4 saw more advertising focused on ESG, ETFs and equities

Insights were the most popular type of advertising in the European market for asset managers during Q4 2021, followed by brand and fund promotion, data from Fundamental Monitor shows.

Considering the total ad volume, fund promotion was the most popular ad purpose in Europe during Q4. However, this was mainly due to the figures being skewed by the large Vontobel bonus certificates campaign which started in Q3 and was still running in Q4. Excluding the Vontobel campaign, 41% of total ad volume focused on insights, the highest percentage since the start of the pandemic. Brand campaigns made up 32% of total ad volume, down from 45% in Q3, while fund promotion fell from 36% to 27%.

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ESG continues to be a key strategy in the European market. Excluding the Vontobel bonus certificates campaign, asset managers focused 44% of their total advertising on ESG during Q4, up from 23% in Q3 and the highest percentage since the start of 2020. Despite the high number of ESG campaigns, there are no signs of ESG fatigue among professional and end investors yet. On the contrary, research carried out by Fundamental Media looking at engagement levels for asset managers’ social media posts found that social media posts on ESG received high levels of engagement throughout 2021.

The last quarter of 2021 also saw more advertising focused on ETFs, which made up 17% of total advertising compared to 8% in Q3. Advertising for equities rose from 10% to 12% while the share of fixed income advertising dropped from 13% to 7%.

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The fourth quarter broke the previous record number of ESG advertisers active in market, which stood at 46 advertisers in Q3. The last quarter of 2021 saw an all-time high of 61 asset managers advertising their ESG credentials.

The number of advertisers promoting equities increased from 19 in Q3 to 28 in Q4, while the number of asset managers advertising fixed income dropped from 19 to 17 during the same period. A total of 15 managers were advertising their ETF offering (up from 12 in Q3) and 11 managers promoted multi-asset (up from 7 in Q4).

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