Ninety One's Latest Campaign Changes Our View of Investments

Ninety One is one of the most accomplished and decorated asset managers in the business. From a small start-up in South Africa to a global investment manager, Ninety One has been unwavering in its commitment to providing long-term returns for their clients. 

However, due to the demerger from Investec and listing as Ninety One in 2020, awareness of the brand and its positioning have been relatively low. 

“It’s been just over two years since our name change,” explains Kotie Basson, head of marketing, Africa at Ninety One, “and even though we have a track record spanning more than three decades, and are today the biggest investment manager in South Africa, for many people our name is still relatively unknown.”

As a result, HelloFCB+, were tasked with creating a hard-working campaign that would highlight exactly who Ninety One is and what they do, giving its audience genuine reasons to include them in their consideration set.

“Ninety One is a company that fully embraces change, so telling people who they are and what they do in a conventional way just wasn’t an option”, explains Mike Barnwell, CCO at HelloFCB+.

“So, instead of resorting to a campaign filled with the usual category clichés, we decided to shine a spotlight on them instead, and then give people compelling reasons why they should invest their hard-earned money with Ninety One,” adds Mike. 

Gerhard Pretorius, director of the piece and head of concept at Fuelcontent says, “From the very first draft of the script, it was clear that this was going to be something completely different. The writing is smart, wry and confident, but one thing we all agreed on from the outset was the tone. We didn’t want to come off as arrogant in any shape or form. Casting was also super important, and so was finding talent that could nail both Afrikaans and English performances. So, casting Marvin-Lee Beukes was a no-brainer.”

Gerhard adds, “We had to walk a tonal tight rope and didn’t want this to be satire, but rather a light parody of the investment category’s tropes. That’s why the decision was made to shoot in black-and-white as the actor spoke directly to camera while referring to the clichéd metaphor of a small sapling growing into a mighty oak tree (which was brought to life by the Refinery’s Rory Mark and his amazing team). By turning off all the VFX and switching to colour at the end, what we’re saying is, right now, the world needs results, not clichés.” 

“This campaign needed to not only build awareness for our brand, but of course, do it in a memorable and unexpected way. We’re absolutely thrilled with the result,” concludes Kotie.

The TVC is accompanied by a fully integrated campaign, comprising of digital, radio and print that highlights a whole host of reasons to believe.