Nuvama has built a foundation of trust and reputation in the Indian market over 25 years. As an integrated wealth management firm in India, Nuvama oversees Rs. 3,89,041 crores of client assets and caters to a diverse set of clients which includes ~12 lakh affluent and HNIs and ~3,900 of India’s most prosperous families, as of Q1 FY25. Nuvama offers wealth management solutions, covering investment advisory, estate planning, investment management, lending and broking services for individuals, institutions, CXOs, professional investors, and family offices. It also offers a bouquet of alternative asset management products and is a leading player in capital markets.
Medianews4u.com caught up Sujay Rachh, Chief Marketing Officer, Nuvama Group to find out more about its marketing plans and activities.
1. How has the rebranding to Nuvama Group from Edelweiss Wealth Management been received?
The rebranding to Nuvama Group has been received positively both internally and externally. Our clients, partners have recognised our new identity as a reflection of our commitment to innovation and growth in the wealth management, asset management and capital markets space. The transition has further strengthened our team, aligning everyone with a unified vision of becoming an integrated wealth management platform for Global Indians.
The ‘Let’s Do it Right’ campaign effectively connected with its audience through a two-pronged approach. Firstly, within the organisation, the campaign aimed to create brand ambassadors among employees. Recognizing that organisational changes can create uncertainty, we implemented a comprehensive communication program that successfully instilled excitement, confidence, and pride throughout the workforce.
Secondly, the campaign focussed on building mass-level awareness for the Nuvama brand among existing and potential customers. It reassured existing clients that our commitment to prioritizing their needs remained steadfast despite the changes. For potential customers, we positioned Nuvama as a refreshing and intelligent wealth management partner, distinct from conventional and uninspiring brands. Our actions infused wit, transparency, and the willingness to say no when it benefitted our clients’ interests.
The response to the campaign has been remarkable. On our social media channels, including YouTube and LinkedIn, we have achieved over 2 million views and counting, surpassing industry benchmarks with an impressive average view-through rate (VTR) of 45% compared to the standard 20%. Additionally, our PR activities extended our reach to over 60 crore readers, and combined with our multimedia campaign, we reached approximately 100 crore readers and viewers.
Overall, the campaign successfully generated internal enthusiasm, reassured existing clients, and attracted potential customers with its unique approach and values.
2. The aim is to be the top leading wealth management brand in the industry. What needs to be done to get there from a product, marketing and brand building perspective?
During our rebranding journey, we discovered a crucial insight: there was a growing perception of a transactional nature of client relationships within the wealth management industry. Clients expressed concerns that their interests were not being prioritized, with a perception that the focus was mainly on the partner Wealth management firm’s benefits.
This became the basis for us to look at our a product suite and how it was delivered to the clients. We are continuously revamping our advisory model for the affluent clients to deliver a far immersive experience speaking at a portfolio level and not at a product level – which inherently starts building relationships and not transactions. We are also training our RMs to advise clients in their best interest and are not overtly tracking monthly numbers. By consistently prioritising clients and aligning strategies with their best interests, Nuvama has definitely differentiated itself in the industry.
We are also building a marketing and communication approach around this new way of conducting business in the industry. Our existing purpose based communication approach commitment has also helped us differentiate ourselves from our peers. We have successfully positioned Nuvama as a refreshing and intelligent wealth management partner, distinct from conventional and uninspiring brands. Our actions infused wit, transparency, and the willingness to say no when it benefitted our clients’ interests.
3. For a wealth management company is digital the most effective way to reach the affluent audience? TV works best for the masses.
It all depends on what the objectives of the organisation are. If the objective is reach, TV is still the best medium to achieve it in the most economical way. So when we had to let a large universe know that we have transitioned into Nuvama, TV was a lead medium for us. Now, when we are deepening our association with our audience, we have found digital mediums very effective. The affluent and the UHNI are often tech-savvy and they value personalised and on-demand content. Also digital platforms help achieve personalisation at scale. This helps wealth management companies’ value add by sharing in depth information and personalised advisory.
The other advantage that we derive from digital platforms is its ability to be real time. The ability to track engagement and gather data allows for constant improvisation of strategies, ensuring that we meet the unique needs and preferences of our clients.
4. The ‘Let’s Do It Right’ campaign looked to address the trust deficit that the wealth management category has with the consumer. What factors were kept in mind while creating the campaign to address this issue effectively?
We constantly try and learn about our consumers through primary qualitative research groups and interviews. The other rich source of data comes in from our RMs who are speaking day in day out with their clients. We take pointers from both these sources to map improvement areas and future strategies. The Let’s Do It Right campaign also emerged from this process. The perception that financial partners advice on a transactional basis and don’t have the client’s best interest was an outcome of our study and interactions with our clients. To drive home transparency in our conduct and foster trust, we took this opportunity to communicate our purpose of keeping our client’s interest over our own.
The transactional nature of relationships ultimately eroded trust in the wealth management profession. Hence, the campaign was initiated with the objective of enlightening audiences about the essential expectations they should have from their wealth managers. The campaign strives to empower customers to make informed choices. Ultimately, the overarching goal was let our addressable audience know that we are now Nuvama and what we believe in.
5. Are your Relationship Managers also in a sense influencers and brand custodians?
Relationship Managers (RMs) play a vital role in the overall client experience. They are specialists when it comes to managing money. And their advisory to their clients to preserve and grow wealth is considered an act of utmost responsibility. They have the ability to influence decisions about large sums of money. They have the power of financial knowledge and the ability to build strategies for people’s hard earned money, to be protected and grown. So are they influencers? Yes off course. But, since this is about money and not about a toilet soap, the levels of trust required from a clients’ end for letting this influencing happen, is very high. This is where the brand plays a big role. What the customer thinks about the brand and how does the RM manifest the values of the brand are extremely critical. We typically observe that RMs who handle large AUMs possess a strong financial advisory acumen and effectively represent the brand’s values.
We see a reflection of the above mix in our NPS scores. Nuvama enjoys a considerably high NPS score, close to 80 – one of the highest scores for customer satisfaction in the industry.
6. How effective does the company think the campaign was in establishing it as the wealth manager of choice?
The campaign has been highly effective in establishing Nuvama as the wealth manager of choice. Some of the reasons why we feel that way:
- Nuvama’s revenue grew considerably despite the transition
- We achieved a VTR @ 54.43% above Industry Avg @ 25-30% (Planned 25-30% : Del. 54.43%)
- Through the brand track we conducted, we found almost 80% of respondents were aware of the brand through the campaign and are now considering the brand.
- Our net promoter score across both Nuvama Private and Nuvama Wealth stood at 65 and 77 as of Q1FY25 respectively – and indication of increase in client engagement, brand recognition, and overall trust in our services.
- Positive feedback from clients and the growth in our client base
These are all strong indicators that the campaign successfully resonated with our target audience and reinforced our brand values.
7. What role is AI playing for the company?
Generative AI is something that we are really keen to pilot. We feel that this technology can be extremely useful for our RMs to take the load off them on a series of long tail tasks which they are currently burdened with. Many organisations are experimenting with multiple workstreams involving AI and are in early stages of assessing and learning its impact. We have implemented a few home grown tech platforms to ease the life of our RMs, I believe generative AI will be able to do this in a far more nuanced and client centric manner v/s a rigid tech solution
8. To what extent will marketing activities be about financial inclusion?
Nuvama’s marketing objectives are based on three pillars: becoming the wealth manager of choice, becoming the employer of choice, and being a responsible corporate citizen.
Being a responsible social corporate citizen and contributing positively to the communities we operate in is a goal under which we are taking small but meaningful steps towards financial inclusion. We are attempting to make an impact at a grass root level by ensuring the financial literacy is available where it is needed the most. And in a manner that is understandable and actionable.
9. Does Nuvama Group do a lot of on-ground activation? Kindly elaborate.
Yes, we do. These activations range from year-round investor knowledge series to large scale industry level events. One such large event has become a Nuvama IP. The Nuvama India Conference is in its the 19th year of execution. It has built a solid reputation for being able to get FIIs, FPIs, DIIs and Private Investors from across the world under one roof. Emerging Ideas, is another such event which is in its 11th year, that that pulls in large professional investors.
