Repositioning for Relevance

How one asset manager moved from back-of-the-shelf to front-of-mind with advisors

Key Illuminated Insight

If your story doesn’t stick with advisors, your shelf space won’t matter. Messaging isn’t lipstick, it’s leverage. When your team, tools, and tone align, trust (and AUM) follows.

The challenge

The firm had the products. Solid performance. Competitive fees. A long-standing presence in the market.

But to advisors? They were forgettable.

Their mutual funds weren’t showing up in portfolios. Not because of performance, but because of perception. The brand had grown dusty. The messaging leaned on legacy. Advisors couldn’t articulate a reason to choose them over flashier or more familiar names.

And internally? Sales and marketing were misaligned, campaigns felt disconnected, and everyone was stuck in “spray and pray” mode. The team didn’t need another rebrand. They needed a reframe.

The fix

We translated “good track record” into a compelling reason to care…today.

→ Conducted qualitative interviews with advisors to unpack how they were choosing products (and what was missing from the brand narrative)
→ Built out a clear, actionable ICP based on real advisor behaviour, preferences, and decision drivers grounded in interviews, not assumptions
→ Audited all messaging within brochures, web, wholesaler scripts and the like to diagnose where clarity broke down
→ Crafted a new brand narrative anchored in what mattered most to advisors: ease, trust, and differentiated thinking in a sea of sameness
→ Rolled out new messaging across the website, advisor decks, and campaign assets
→ Enabled wholesalers and marketing teams with a shared playbook so everyone was telling the same story, with the same conviction

The outcome

→ Boosted brand consideration by 36%, and perceived relevance by 44% in follow-up advisor surveys
→ Wholesalers reported more confident conversations and more meetings booked
→ Marketing stopped defaulting to “product push” and started building campaigns that positioned the firm as a thinking partner, not just a fund provider

This wasn’t just about brand polish. It was about reclaiming advisor mindshare and market share.

About the client

NEI Investments isn’t just another fund provider. They’re one of Canada’s longest-standing champions of responsible investing—well before ESG became a buzzword.

With a full suite of actively managed mutual funds and portfolios, NEI blends disciplined risk management with deep ESG integration. The challenge? Their reputation for integrity and impact didn’t always translate into advisor adoption.