Equities overtake fixed income in Europe and APAC advertising, ETFs remain dominant in North America

A sizeable portion of European and APAC advertising focuses on ESG

Key points:

• Brand campaigns are most common in Europe and APAC, but North American advertisers continue to favour fund promotion
• Advertisers in Europe and APAC favoured equities over fixed income
• ESG advertising still only a fraction of North American advertising

During the second quarter of 2021, advertisers in Europe and APAC favoured equities over fixed income, according to data by Fundamental Monitor. ETFs still make up almost half of all advertising in North America. A sizeable portion of European and APAC advertising focuses on ESG, but in North America it only stands at 2% of advertising.

Brand campaigns are most popular in Europe and APAC, but North American advertisers continue to favour fund promotion.

Europe

Brand campaigns have fallen back somewhat in Europe, but still account for 46% of volume in Q2, down from 66% in Q1 2021 but up from the 34% seen in Q2 2020. Insights and fund promotions have both risen sharply compared to Q1 2021, from 13% to 21% and from 18% to 32%, respectively. In Q2 2020, insights made up 36% of all advertising and fund promotion 29%.

ESG advertising now makes up 31% of all asset management advertising, an all-time high percentage. The pattern of equities advertising compared to advertising for bonds, ETFs and multi-asset is very similar to that seen in the APAC region: equities and bonds have swapped their Q1 allocation and now stand at 12% and 9% respectively.

There have been more advertisers in market in Q2, and while none of them have had a large stand-out campaign like that of Franklin Templeton in Q1, the volumes of advertisers in the top 10 are much more unified.

Asia Pacific

Brand campaigns continue to dominate in the APAC region, with 47% of total volume but at the same time fund promotions have fallen away in favour of thought leadership: insights now account for 24% (up from 11% in Q1) and fund promotions 27% (down from 40% in Q1).

The big surge of advertising volume dedicated to ESG seen in Q1 has reverted back to the levels seen at the end of 2020 and now stand at 12%. Equities are now favoured over fixed income (13% and 7% respectively), similar to the trend in Europe.

North America

The pattern of advertising purpose across all campaigns in North America was very similar in Q2 compared to Q1, with fund promotion continuing to be the most popular type of campaign followed by brand, with insights at only 17%, the lowest percentage in any of the regions.

ETFs continue as the most commonly advertised product by far, although the volume dedicated to their promotion has dipped to just under 50%. Equities (26%) are more than four times as common to see in campaigns than fixed income products (6%). In contrast to the APAC region and Europe, ESG remains as a fringe interest as far as American asset managers are concerned with just 2% of all advertising dedicated to the subject.

Below are some examples of the advertising campaigns asset managers have launched in Q2.

Fidelity – Brand campaign in APAC

Invesco – Fund promotion in North America 

Capital Group – Equities in Europe 

Franklin Templeton – Equities in APAC

Global X Funds – ETFs in North America

All data comes from Fundamental Monitor, an innovative technology tool developed by Fundamental Media providing real-time insights into the advertising campaigns by asset managers across the globe