Colonial First State Archives

Sydney, Australia – To launch its new wealth management platform, CFS Edge, Colonial First State has created a tech-focussed B2B campaign with its agency, It’s Friday, positioning the innovative platform as ‘The New Possible’.

Developed with FNZ, a global wealth technology and services company backed by former US Vice President Al Gore’s investment group, CFS Edge is part of a $430m investment in technology by CFS over four years and promises to change the game for Australian advisers who service higher net wealth clients.

Josh Grace, customer office group executive at Colonial First State, said, “As the first major new platform in the wealth management sector for nearly a decade, CFS Edge demanded a bold new look, signalling that a new world has opened to advisors. This is technology that adapts to how they work, so it is, in almost every way, the New Possible. Every part of our communications has been styled to reflect this.”

Meanwhile, Vince Lagana, CCO at It’s Friday, commented, “CFS Edge is a step change for advisers. The visual metaphors don’t just emphasise some of its best features, they also bring to life the feelings of release and empowerment an adviser has while using them.”

Australia – The year-end is as important as ringing in the new year when it comes to our financial plans, and Aussie-based investment provider Colonial First State (CFS) want to be of help by reminding people of its ‘pro-grade’ financial products amidst the second half of the year.

In partnership with creative agency It’s Friday, CFS launches a campaign with four films, each focussed on someone with a specific financial investment ambition.

Seemingly resigned to limited options, individuals in the film are challenged by an enthusiastic, motivational figure, who grandly reveals the CFS pro-grade choice that could fulfil their investment ambitions.

One of the four films in the campaign.

Josh Grace, chief customer officer of CFS, said it’s time to break the perception that only a select few can access the world’s best investment managers.

“CFS want Australians to know that they don’t have to be held back. No matter their life stage or goals, we have pro-grade investment choices that will open their eyes to bigger and better ways to unleash the potential of their money,” said Grace.

Pete Bosilkovski, CEO of It’s Friday, commented, “Surprisingly many Aussies have a passive relationship with their finances. It’s often left in the too hard basket or has a misconnection that you can’t get access to the best products that can make your money work harder for you. Yet, most Aussies want to unleash boldly in their second half but fall short on making it happen.”

“Sometimes all people need is a little encouragement and motivation to stir something deep inside them and see the light. That’s the genius thing about this campaign. Earlier this year, we reframed retirement inspiring Aussies to unleash their second half. Now, we inspire Aussies on how they can make it happen with pro-grade product choices in investment, superannuation, and retirement that CFS FirstChoice has to offer them,” he added.

Chief Creative Officer Vince Lagana also said, “Retail investment messages are often quite straight and bland. But CFS’s pro-grade choices aren’t ordinary choices. They deserve a grand introduction that excites people. While also serving to remind them that CFS isn’t just there for retirement planning. It’s for every life stage and every investor who wants to thrive.”

Last March, CFS came out with its very first ad campaign, also developed by It’s Friday. Alongside this, the financial services launched a new brand platform.

Australia — The wealth management group, Colonial First State (CFS), is encouraging Aussies to change their perception of retirement, turning it from a perceived ‘ending’ to an opportunity to unleash their ‘second half’. The company has collaborated with their newly appointed creative agency, It’s Friday, to deliver a new brand platform and TTL campaign entitled ‘Unleash Your Second Half’ surrounding this message.

The campaign focuses on asking pre-retirees an important and unexpected inquiry, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” It’s a question normally asked of the young but is given surprising new relevance when put to ambitious Australians about to embark on their second half. Each character we see in the TV spots has a vision for their future that will give them as much, if not more, purpose than their working life.

Todd Stevenson, chief customer officer at CFS, says that the new campaign created by It’s Friday recognises that, for many Australians, retirement isn’t what it used to be and when planned for, it can be an exciting new time of personal growth, achievement, and purpose.

“A time when people often have more freedom to pursue things that are meaningful to them, but not necessarily what they did in their first half. CFS wants to celebrate that and help Australians make it as great as it should be and recognise the important role that a financial adviser can play,” Stevenson said.

More recently, Australian pre-retirees are rejecting their established notion of retirement. Many are entering this new phase of life on their own terms, injecting it with new purpose and a desire for ongoing fulfilment and meaning. To them, retirement is the beginning of their second half.

Vince Lagana, chief creative officer of It’s Friday, added, “It’s exciting to take a category that often feels passive and cliché and inject new energy into it by flipping the traditional Message.”

He continued, “Some retirees may want to sail off into the sunset and take long walks on a beach, and all too often that’s how older people are depicted in advertising, but retirement doesn’t have to be that. It can be a chance to rediscover your youthful exuberance and try new things. Acknowledging this will be a breath of fresh air for many pre-retirees, while repositioning CFS as the brand dedicated to making it happen.”

Australia — Creative agency It’s Friday has been appointed by Colonial First State (CFS) to deliver its new brand platform and first advertising campaign since becoming a standalone business in December last year.

The appointment will see It’s Friday develop a new campaign and brand platform to leverage Colonial First State’s strengths as one of the established retail superannuation and investment businesses in Australia and prominent payer of pensions in Australia after the federal government.

The relationship has been forged as Colonial First State embarks on a new phase as a standalone business with around US$150b of funds under management following the Commonwealth Bank’s sale of a 55 per cent stake in the group to global investment firm KKR.

Pete Bosilkovski, CEO and founder of It’s Friday, welcomed the opportunity to reengage Australians with one of Australia’s leading wealth management companies.

“We are delighted to partner with Colonial First State. It’s a real privilege. Colonial First State is an iconic Australian brand that has helped more than three million Australians plan for their future and realise their retirement ambitions to date. The team have huge ambitions for growth, and we are excited by the opportunity to differentiate the brand by charging it with a new kind of energy in this category,” Bosilkovski said.

Meanwhile, Todd Stevenson, chief customer officer of Colonial First State, said that they are investing more than US$430m into the business over the next four years. Stevenson added that the investment they are putting into their brand is another way CFS is working to power the growth of the almost one million members who trust them to help with their retirement savings and investments.

“We want Australians to know that CFS and the financial advisers we work with can help them build their super savings and navigate the complexities of the retirement system and we’re absolutely delighted to be working with It’s Friday,” Stevenson said.

The appointments continues It’s Friday’s growth trajectory following the agency’s launch in January with founding client Domino’s, which was followed by the appointment of Cate Mathers as head of strategy.