Finance brands marketing during stock market declines

There is opportunity

Yet brands that get it right, by holding onto existing investors and gaining new customers amid market turbulence, could gain brand loyalists. A financial company that persuades an investor to switch accounts now has a captive customer with a low base to build from. And when stocks and other financial assets rebound, that could build rewards for the customer as well as a lifelong loyalty, Calkins said.

Brands are also marketing to a host of first-time investors, many of whom are young consumers who have yet to live through any market volatility like the dot com bubble bursting in the early 2000s or even remember the 2008 recession.

Enter Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 at AdAge.com/40u40.

“There are a lot of younger investors in their 20s, especially, who haven’t seen a downturn like this and think that investing is riskless, that things always go up,” said Russell Winer, William H. Joyce professor of marketing at NYU Stern. “Cryptocurrencies have tended to attract younger investors and they’re getting a bit of a lesson there.”

Indeed, crypto has taken a beating with no clear recovery in sight. That’s not stopping Coinbase, which made headlines during the Super Bowl for a bouncing QR code commercial, from making its case to compel customers to continue investing. In a new ad that broke last week, the brand recalled other moments in its 10-year existence when it heard criticism from naysayers, before turning to text that read, “Long live crypto.”

“Volatility is painful, and can be scary,” wrote Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch in a blog post. “Nobody likes to lose money in the short term — whether in crypto, or the stock market more broadly. That said, volatility is also natural for emerging technological breakthroughs like crypto.”

Read more: NFT market uncertainty—how brands and agencies are reacting 

Experts say that continuing to advertise, and reassure customers, is the right strategy. During the 2008 recession, many brands cut back their ad budgets. Those that continued advertising stayed top of mind with customers and “got a disproportionate bump—their share of voice went up,” said Winer. He advised messaging such as “We’re a solid brand, we’re going to be around, we’ve got your back,” saying “those kinds of things will reassure investors.”