Polar
Polar Asset Management Partners is an employee owned asset manager founded in 1991 focused on hedge funds and hedge fund strategies. The firm invests in the public equity and alternative investment markets in Canada, Asia, Europe, the United States, and United Kingdom. It invests in stocks, options, futures, treasuries, and corporate bond translates utilizing various multi-strategy, arbitrage, special situations, and equity long/short strategies for its hedging investments.
Industry
— Financial services
— Asset management
Branding to
— Articulate value
— Become known
— Conquer new markets
— Gain share of wallet
Services
— Brand & value proposition strategy
— Brand identity & visual systems
— Website design & development
— Marketing collateral design
The Situation
While Polar had carved out an enviable position as one of Canada’s largest hedge fund managers, their asset growth had plateaued and they were often perceived as being complacent and not aggressively exploring new strategies for growth.
Additionally, the investment know-how was attached to the founders creating a perception of inherent risk should any of them retire or leave the firm. This situation also limited the firm’s ability to attract top talent as it wasn’t seen as a place where up and coming portfolio managers could initiate new investment strategies enabling them to make their mark.
Human catalyst
Hedge fund asset managers are generally seen as predators and don’t play well with others, Polar was seen to be different in this regard.
Our Solution
Yield Branding’s solution leveraged this harsh hedge fund reality and juxtaposed it against Polar’s “good guy” street credibility. By utilizing their name as a metaphor for where they do business, we could amplify the idea that they’ve learn to thrive in this harsh hedge fund environment.
The Polar metaphor became a powerful and disruptive visual way to demonstrate our dominance and tell the story, while bringing focus to the master brand not the funds. Then we re-architected the investment offering away from funds to focus on investment strategies. Within each branded fund we created a multiple dimension offering that had far greater relevance for institutional investors.
This approach permeated all brand touch points from their website, pitch decks, fund sheets, client events and thought leadership content, both static and digital media.
The Yield
Within 2 years of the brand relaunch Polar AUM has grown from $1.6 billion to $3.4 billion with 65% of it coming from overseas allocators which was a strategic focus. Our communication efforts drove website traffic up 320% and requests for information and presentations went up 110% versus similar time period prior to the brand relaunch. The firm’s AUM currently sits at over $7 billion.
