Are independent financial advisers ‘out of date’, dinosaurs even?
A very clever marketing campaign from new kid on the block online life insurance company Beagle Street thinks so.
They have taken over the Lyme Regis Dinosaur Museum to host an exhibition which includes an IFA as an exhibit alongside dinosaurs.
This campaign was launched following a survey of 5,000 people which found 63% of UK adults do not trust Independent Financial Advisers and 84% believe that the ‘middlemen’ are an unnecessary point in the financial services process.
You can watch their YouTube advert below or by clicking here. It’s rather good; we especially like the attempt at a David Attenborough style voice over.
[youtube 6JH1MC47tVM nolink]Making a good point
When it comes to buying life insurance, Beagle Street make a good point about the extinction of IFAs.
The Internet makes buying some financial products very easy without the use of middlemen. If you are using the services of an IFA simply to get the best deal, you’re probably just as capable of knocking down prices by going online.
There are still good reasons however for using an IFA if you’re buying life insurance.
A cursory glance at the Beagle Street online application process reveals no mention of placing the policy in trust; this is very important to consider when buying life cover and something a competent IFA would ensure happens.
They also appear to allow the option to select ‘no to all’ on their questionnaire, creating a significant risk of ‘non-disclosure’ which could invalidate your life cover at the point of making a claim.
Shaking up financial services
We love the Internet and believe it has the potential to shake up the retail financial services sector for the better.
We agree with Beagle Street that the traditional role of an IFA as independent product broker is quickly becoming extinct, thanks in part to online product comparison services.
What Beagle Street fail to recognise in this clever marketing campaign is that our profession has moved on.
We might continue to use the strap line Independent Financial Advice in our logo – although not for much longer, changes are coming at Informed Choice – but what we do for our clients is Financial Planning, not broking products.
Our clients continue to want the most suitable (not necessarily the cheapest) products when these are needed to meet financial goals; this ‘one-stop shop’ service is something our clients tell us is very important.
But everything starts with Financial Planning.
What do you want out of life? What are your goals? What is your Financial Plan to achieve this?
Beagle Street present an accurate portrayal of an old-school IFA we and our clients would struggle to recognise in the modern Financial Planning profession.
Our video response
We had a bit of fun in the office this afternoon putting together this video response:
[youtube YWEY-3-c0oE]Smoking Beagles
As an aside, and because I mentioned it in the title of this article, when I think of Beagles and life insurance, I think of “The smoking Beagles”.
Back in 1975, before I was born, The People newspaper in Manchester ran one of the most memorable newspaper front pages in the history of popular journalism.
One of their journalists had gone undercover and taken photographs of dogs being forced to smoke cigarettes. The Beagles were being used to test an apparently ‘safe’ new cigarette.
As life insurance is undoubtedly a big consideration for chain smokers, perhaps Beagle Street could feature some smoking Beagles in their next campaign?
It’s not quite comparing Meerkats, but it would have shock value.
