CAROLINE CRUISE
Head of Marketing, Davy Select
AS part of one of Ireland’s oldest wealth management and investment firms, Davy Select is a trading and pension platform which allows investors to take control of their investments. Caroline Cruise, head of marketing, talks to John McGee about the challenges she faces as a marketer. Describe your role with Davy Select. As head of marketing for Davy Select and a member of the wider Davy marketing team, my focus is on helping to grow the brand and deliver on the overall commercial objectives of Davy.
I’m always thinking ahead, what will our clients want next year, and beyond, how are they going to want to work with us and how will we deliver that experience. This means that I need to work collaboratively with a wide range of internal Davy stakeholders and with our external agencies and partners. What are your key challenges? There is a lot of jargon involved in the financial industry. Investments can be complex and as a regulated financial company our role is to fully explain and give a balanced view of our services. This can be challenging, especially in digital marketing where space is limited. How do you deal with these? Keep things as simple as possible. Our clients are busy people and their time is limited. I try to put myself in their position. It’s important to build long-term relationships with our marketing agencies and work with them to understand the needs of our clients and future clients.
When it comes to investing, how would you describe the investment mentality of the Irish? A 2016 survey by iCubed, an investment advisory firm for financial advisers acquired by the Davy Group, revealed that male investors exhibit signs of greater confidence in their knowledge in relation to financial markets and products versus their female counterparts. However a recent study by asset managers Fidelity, which analysed eight million accounts by gender, showed women’s investments tend to outperform men’s. Need I say more? What are the key opportunities for the firm? There’s a lot of interest in fintech from a customer experience point of view and as an investment opportunity. Having said that, one of the fastest evolving technologies is in our own hands — our mobile devices. Investors increasingly want to access their investments on the go and to cater for this we have recently enhanced our client portal and given it a new name ‘myDavy’.
As technology evolves and our clients and intermediaries increasingly engage with us digitally, we believe that technology driven innovations will continue to provide us with opportunities that meet the needs of all our clients, delivering personalised and compelling experiences. What are the key challenges? Our business is driven by the state of the Irish and Global financial markets and the impact this has on investor sentiment. It’s important for us to take a balanced view and keep focused on the long-term.