Alternative investments firms saw a significant increase in interest in 2022, according to Peregrine Communications’ second annual Alts 50 report assessing the integrated marketing communications (IMC) performance of the alternative investment management industry.
The report found that nearly three-in-four (74%) firms saw increasing brand awareness over time. This is in stark contrast to the prevailing trend among long-only asset managers, where brand awareness has been in decline since 2018, according to Peregrine’s annual Global 100 study of the largest asset managers in the world.
When looking at how well firms marketed themselves as a whole, Blackstone maintained top spot overall this year. However, the distance between Blackstone and the rest has narrowed, with Millennium Management (2nd) and Apollo Global Management, Vista Equity Partners and Advent International making up the top five. From an asset class perspective, private equity & credit firms improved their average Brand Awareness scores, with all three asset classes improving in terms of overall IMC score.
As in the 2021 Alts 50 Report, the report found that Alts managers continually fail to fully utilise their digital communications, with only 40% using all three social media platforms, the primary tool for maintaining a positive Google Page One. Moreover, only half (49%) of firms had an effective website, another crucial piece of infrastructure in improving the user journey for investors and talent alike.
Collating over 6,000 data points across firms’ core IMC activities, the report weighs, scores and ranks each firm against their industry peers, through 10 key metrics: Brand Awareness, Brand Momentum, Share of Voice, Media Sentiment, Google Page 1, Social Media, SEO, Paid Search, Paid Media, and Website Effectiveness.
