Financial Communications

Financial Services Positioning and Transaction Advisory Services

Financial Services Positioning

The relentless change in the global financial services market calls for public relations that challenge the status quo and help solve future industry and business challenges. The Burson-Marsteller Financial Services Group combines deep industry expertise with award-winning communications programs to deliver outstanding business results for clients in the financial services sector.

Over decades, Burson-Marsteller has provided financial services clients with access to the integrated resources of a truly global agency but delivered with the agility of a boutique and hands-on partnership of a consultancy.

Expert teams are designed according to the specific need to ensure optimal client service, creativity, and insight. These expert teams bring "bench strength" and knowledge from all dimensions of the industry: credit cards, brokerage, wealth management, funds and investing, alternative investing, high net worth, insurance, advisory, channel relations, retail banking, and investment banking. 

Our knowledge-based approach addresses the spectrum of business needs, from CEO and leadership communications, through crisis management, to product introduction. Our offerings today include:

• Financial Brand Marketing (B2B/B2C)
• Financial Media Network
• Reputation Management
• CEO and Executive Positioning
• Crisis and Issues Management
• Communications Training

Burson-Marsteller's financial brand marketing offerings are designed to enhance value through strength of brand, market position, stakeholder perception, and product and service introduction.  By developing research-based business-to-business and business-to-consumer brand strategies, our programs impact behavior and choice - short-term - while building long-term brand preference and loyalty.

We place media relations strategy at the core of every integrated communications program. Using a network of financial media specialists, we work with our clients to quickly and effectively position key messages built around the unique needs and regional nuances of the local media and our clients' target audiences.

A successful editorial campaign requires both well-written content and a network of available outlets to publish that content. Our Financial Media Network combines the expertise of seasoned writers with experience writing op-eds and byline articles with a long list of key media relationships including regional business journals, professional association newsletters, vertical/trade industry outlets, and national consumer, business, and financial publications.

Transaction Advisory Services

In any transaction, a company must gain the acceptance of its constituencies while maintaining the continuity of its business operations. Mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, hostile takeovers, proxy contests, initial public offerings, bankruptcies, divestitures, leveraged buy-outs, and other corporate financial transactions have their own complex and often delicate communications requirements.

For these reasons, Burson-Marsteller regards Transaction Advisory as critical to a company's integrated communications strategy.  Effective communication during this pivotal time can optimally position a company with its key stakeholders in the investment community, including current and potential shareholders, debt holders, regulators, analysts, rating agencies, and the financial media.  The benefits include sustainable long-term shareholder value, decreased stock volatility, increased liquidity, and a lower cost of capital.

Burson-Marsteller offers a full range of strategic and operational support to companies with ambitions to access and influence the global investment community, as well as the financial media that shape their opinions.  We maintain close relationships with financial journalists, sell-side analysts and the investment community.

Burson-Marsteller's Transaction Advisory Group works with corporations on the key communications issues that are important parts of any corporate transaction.  For example, what internal and external approvals are needed for a transaction? What timing and detail level is appropriate?  What communications measures are necessary during each phase of transaction execution?  To answer these questions and others, Burson-Marsteller professionals work closely with its clients' top management and legal and investment banking advisors to develop integrated, effective plans for communicating the transactions and winning investor support.

While the most immediate objective is often to gain support for the transaction in order to consummate it, an equally important goal is to position the company for post-transaction success: In addition to Burson-Marsteller's expertise in supporting companies during transactions and related corporate developments, we also provide strategic advice to clients while they communicate with the investment community and comply with the required disclosures throughout the normal reporting cycle.  Burson-Marsteller's services include quarterly results positioning, earnings guidance counsel, investment community perception studies, and monthly and quarterly Board of Directors reports.