A once-shy mutual fund industry giant is speaking up, in a big way.

Dee Mc Laughlin Capital Group Senior Vice President, Global Brand and Creative

Yesterday, the team at Los Angeles-based Capital Group [profile] launched their first ever brand marketing and television campaign, themed around turning the question "Can I?" into the assertion "I can." Juniper Park\TBWA, Cap Group's agency of record for the past two years, worked with the fund firm on the campaign.

The 87-year-old firm behind American Funds has long been advisor-sold, and once upon a time the Cap Group team shied away from retail publicity in favor of marketing to advisors and then letting those advisor allies take center stage with investors. Yet in 2012, the Cap Group team took to social media to get the American Funds message out there. And the Cap Group team has ramped up their advertising with ads on individual products.

Jaya Kumar Capital Group Global Chief Marketing Officer

"We've been advertising actually for quite a number of years" to both advisors and investors, Dee Mc Laughlin, senior vice president of global brand and creative at Cap Group, tells MFWire. "This is the first time we are doing it at this kind of scale."

In preparation for the campaign, the Cap Group team did research with both plan sponsors and financial advisors.

Jenny Glover Juniper Park\TBWA Executive Creative Director

"We honed in on what they liked about us, what was valuable to them," Mc Laughlin says.

As such, the campaign emphasizes Cap Group's long-term approach to investing and its performance. The firm's partnership with FAs, Mc Laughlin says, is also "front and center."

"We have added, more overtly, partnership to our beliefs," Mc Laughlin says. "Intermediaries are at the heart of what we do. We say it, but we've never said it at this kind of scale."

The campaign includes ads in newspapers, podcasts, and other online platforms, as well as five 30-second TV spots. The ads feature both the American Funds and Capital Group brands.

"Consumers want transparency and they're taking charge ... We understand that," Mc Laughlin says, adding that people want to "research and validate important life decisions."

"We want them to understand who we are as a brand and what we offer," Mc Laughlin adds.

"With 'I can,' we want to help people realize that their dreams can be within reach with the right investments and long-term planning," states Jaya Kumar, global chief marketing officer at Cap Group. "Our campaign signifies a change in the way our industry talks about investing — making a sometimes-frightening, technical conversation accessible and empowering to more people."

Jenny Glover, executive creative director at Juniper Park\TBWA, puts the campaign in the context of the broader "self-empowerment movement happening with people taking control of their lives in different ways."

"It's all about inspiring people to say, 'I can' with respect to their long-term financial health," Glover states.

As of June 30, Cap Group had more than $1.9 trillion in AUM. 

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