We deliver a mix of old and new, by offering a modern approach to traditional services that emphasizes accountability and a personal touch.
Water & Wall is an award-winning marketing and communications agency whose best work exists at the intersection of inspired thinking and your business growth.
OUR SERVICES
Water & Wall solves awareness, perception and growth issues for brands by developing a business strategy first and then applying a communications solution.
FRAME
we are stewards of your brand
- Communications audit
- Competitive analysis
- Crisis & reputation management
- Message development
CREATE
we are writers and storytellers
- Branding
- Data driven campaigns
- Editorial content
- Design services
ENGAGE
we connect people with ideas
- Digital strategies
- Media relations
- Brand nurturing
- Executive visibility
One night in 2012, co-founders Scott and Andrew met in a Manhattan pub to share their visions for the agency of the future. Their ideas flowed onto a cocktail napkin and, as they left, they found themselves on the corner
of Water & Wall Street.
THE REST IS HISTORY THE FUTURE.
We’re business people first, communicators second.
Here’s a handful of the many friends we’ve made along the way:
OUR WORK
BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF WEALTH
BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF WEALTH
BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF WEALTH
In the decades we’ve collectively been the stewards of financial brands, the family office was not one that considered itself a candidate for our services. How the times have changed! Cue Arnhold LLC, a $4.5 billion family office and investment management firm.
For Arnhold LLC, we had the privilege of guiding a storied name in financial services across Europe and in the US through a comprehensive branding process to support the establishment of their family office in New York.
In a year-long process, Water & Wall developed a full suite of branding and business development materials to support Arnhold’s launch, including a messaging hierarchy, logo, pitch book, business cards and letterhead.
WHEN DESIGN COMPLEMENTS THE TRADITIONAL
WHEN DESIGN COMPLEMENTS THE TRADITIONAL
WHEN DESIGN COMPLEMENTS THE TRADITIONAL
For ETF investment manager, WBI Investments, an appetite for creativity helped us succeed together. We implemented an integrated communications program, for the $2 billion U.S.-based asset manager, that combined journalist engagement, social media amplification, research, podcast production, and an enhancement to the firm’s creative branding materials.
Traditional media relations was at the core of this program, with the Water & Wall team introducing WBI to print and broadcast journalists, securing meaningful coverage for its client. The earned media was complemented by owned media, which in this case comprised two primary assets – product brochures and a podcast.
For the podcast, Water & Wall led the pre-production strategy, from content, to scripting to distribution plans once WBI produced the podcast.
Water & Wall also designed marketing storyboards for WBI’s exchange-traded funds. Our design work earned us an opportunity to develop visual concepts for their quarterly magazine and forthcoming proprietary advisor-focused robo tool.
The keys to success here were an enthusiastic leadership team and expert client-side marketing support.
MEET THE MANAGERS
MEET THE MANAGERS
MEET THE MANAGERS
We regularly secure high-profile media coverage that showcases the people behind successful investment strategies, who are in many cases are as fascinating as the strategies themselves.
Recent examples include our work for Resolute Investment Managers. At a time in our business when positive earned attention is difficult to come by for even the best performing funds, we secured a profile in Barron’s on the best-in-class American Beacon Sound Point Floating Rate Income fund.
Elsewhere, Business Insider named Lori Heinel, State Street Global Advisors Deputy Global CIO to their “100 People Transforming Business” list. Each year, Lori is featured as commentator on major business broadcast networks and in top-tier print outlets dozens of times as the team leverages her thinking and its journalist relationships to raise her profile.
These assignments are representative of a key service offering on the communications side of our business that will be critical to our asset management clients’ business growth going forward.
THE ADVISOR’S ADVISOR
THE ADVISOR’S ADVISOR
THE ADVISOR’S ADVISOR
ETF Securities, a $20 billion global asset management firm, commissioned Water & Wall to develop a content marketing program targeting financial advisors, a segment of the wealth management industry with which we’re deeply familiar. Our work included copy writing and design of a suite of print and video sales and educational collateral to educate advisors on the merits of investing in commodity ETFs. A major component of our strategy was to write the sales materials in a way that made them intelligible to end-clients, allowing advisors to pass along the collateral for educational purposes. The visually enhanced, story-driven content achieved extremely high engagement rates, giving ETF Securities an advantage over its commodity fund competitors.
DARE TO BE FEARLESS
DARE TO BE FEARLESS
DARE TO BE FEARLESS
There are few communications and marketing campaigns in the institutional financial services community that reached as many people as Fearless Girl. For so many, she has become a to drive positive change well beyond business. From the start, our client, State Street Global Advisors, had grand ambitions of being a leader in influencing change among the global corporate ranks. Simply put, together by securing earned media with a focus on North America, we would set the foundation for future asset stewardship priorities with a focus on gender diversity in business. We would convey the message that women should have a far greater presence in the board room and in the C-suite than they do now.
On the day we introduced the statue of that little girl challenging the Charging Bull (note: now she’s outside the New York Stock Exchange), we saw hundreds of media outlets around the world cover the story. One outlet in particular, Business Insider, ran a story read by nearly two million people within hours of publication. Since then, State Street spokespeople have appeared on and in every major broadcast and print business news outlet in the world to discuss the asset managers ongoing effort.
Today, the Fearless Girl remains a powerful and everlasting symbol, and we’re proud to have been the agency driving the media coverage behind this icon.
FROM MICRO TO MACRO
FROM MICRO TO MACRO
FROM MICRO TO MACRO
NEPC, a $1 trillion institutional investment consultant, is among the best examples of a long-term partnership that resulted in client business growth and an expansion of an integrated marketing and communications program that included traditional journalist engagement, branding, and visual storytelling.
Prior to engaging Water & Wall, the Boston-based firm had no consistent public presence in its 30-year history beyond incidental trade media coverage. The first assignment: raise awareness for the Endowments and Foundations Practice, an established presence in their space with no public voice. Within a year, the firm’s top executives were featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Times, Financial Times, among key trade publications. That work expanded not only to owning media relations for other practice areas within the firm – pensions, private wealth, healthcare, among them – it also led to the development of a research series that included in-depth surveys and graphic design.
The effort earned us the opportunity to redesign NEPC’s pitch book, which we overhauled with new messaging and compelling visuals that helped the firm win new business.
By the time the program entered its third year, we were responsible for 80 percent of their content. What’s more, they walked into a meeting with a potential client, who complemented NEPC on their recent news story, the best validation for our work there is.
6.5
Number of years
of our average
client relationship
10
Awards won
honoring our work
65
Brands
whose reputation
we’ve managed
95
% Conversion rate
on earned media
MEET THE TEAM
FROM THE BLOG
Mistakes Happen: Here’s how to Bounce Back
Mistakes Happen: Here’s how to Bounce Back
A Playbook for Newbies
A Conversation With
Frank Washkuch
A Conversation With
Frank Washkuch
Executive Editor of PR Week
Like all industries, the marketing and communications world has been flipped upside down from COVID-19, and agencies and in-house brands are being forced to adapt and rethink almost every aspect of their business. To help shine a light on these changes, we’re joined by Frank Washkuch, executive editor of PR Week, where he talks about some of the big themes and trends he’s following.
Frank, first thing’s first: how are you holding up in the current environment?
Well, thank you, knock on wood, family and friends are healthy and hanging in there.
Companies in all industries are adapting to a remote work setting, and discussions about the future of the workplace have gained considerable momentum. As an editor, how are you dealing with this rapid shift and what opportunities/challenges does it pose for media companies?
Sometimes you have to throw out news plans several times a day in good times when you’re sitting near your colleagues, so working from home under stressful circumstances requires a lot of communication and organization throughout the day.
I do a lot of nagging, in other words.
There are unique challenges, of course, for our colleagues who focus on print content and who work on events, some of which have become virtual events. Many publishers have grown their events business in recent years, and so it’s an area a lot are dealing with and figuring out.
Though it’s worth noting that reporters have always been good working remotely, so this shift hasn’t been a complete pivot. Often my colleagues and I would be on the road attending an event or reporting from a conference, so we’re used to the challenges and requirements that come with being out of the office: tight deadlines, filing stories from other cities, interviewing people via Zoom, etc. In some ways, folks in the media have been better prepared than others since remote work has always been a part of how we do our jobs.
You covered the PR industry during the Great Recession, so this isn’t your first crisis. What are some of the similarities and/or differences you’re seeing in the communications field between now and 2008?
A few differences immediately stand out. The Great Recession was a dire financial crisis before its effects were felt across the economy at large, whereas with COVID, some of the firms that have felt the most pain are in sectors such as travel and tourism.
Second, while the Great Recession was dire for sure, it was economic. Now, employees are worried about their jobs and their health, as well as the health of their relatives, while juggling the unique nature of working from home. And, of course, those who are parents have practically taken on a second job at night. So, to put it as simply as possible, it’s a lot, for everyone.
Based on your conversations with agency executives and in-house leaders, what are some of the main themes and takeaways you’re seeing in the communications field?
Broadly speaking, there have been layoffs across the major holding companies, many clients have pulled back on consumer-focused marketing and there are no events. But there is an increased demand for corporate and crisis counsel. And of course, there’s not enough aid for small businesses, including agencies, to go around.
One area we’re watching is that with more and more PR firms venturing into marketing and creative services, how are they creating content remotely and how is this process adapting? For many agencies, these services are fairly new and not as well-honed as traditional offerings such as earned media or internal comms. So, it’ll be interesting to see them manage these new efforts while being apart.
And another big theme is how the industry will handle the issue of mental health. The shutdown has completely altered the work/life balance, with many employees working long hours and doing so among strict self-isolation. Over time, this can create some troubling trends – especially in areas like New York City that has been hit hard by COVID-19 – and it’s an area many companies will have to deal with. It’s been promising seeing some industry voices talk about this and we expect to see an overhaul in how agencies and in-house PR folks go about their day, whether it’s moving to a 3 or 4-day work-week or assigning mental health days to help employees unplug and take time to recharge their batteries. Changes are already underway.
What are you reading and/or listening to while you work from home? Any other activities to maintain a healthy work-life balance?
Some really boring advice: It’s important to maintain routines as much as possible, which for me means early runs when it’s easy to social distance.
I’ve finished “The Only Plane in the Sky,” by Garrett Graff, which is an incredibly well done oral history of the September 11th attacks. I’ve become a fan of the late singer Charles Bradley. I haven’t gotten nearly as much clearing and reorganizing done as I promised, but, and this might be related, I’ve gotten better at Football Manager.
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Why Competitive Swimming is Exactly Like Financial PR
Why Competitive Swimming is Exactly Like Financial PR
A Conversation With
Gene Needles
A Conversation With
Gene Needles
Chairman and CEO, Resolute Investment Managers
COVID-19 is forcing companies in all industries, including financial services, to reassess their businesses and plan for a future that looks much different than it did just a few weeks ago. At the same time, the recent market volatility has shaken up investment strategies and refocused attention on the role and value that active management can bring to a portfolio. Operating at the sweet spot of this crossroads is Gene Needles, Chairman and CEO of Resolute Investment Managers, a multi-affiliate asset management platform that has roughly $80 billion in AUM.
Gene, Paul Harvey’s quote, “In times like these, it helps to recall there have always been times like these” may no longer hold true. What are you doing to adapt to life in Age of COVID-19?
I am doing fine and the company is doing well, I’m pleased to report. Whether it’s the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Financial Crisis, or the bursting of the tech bubble in 2000, I’ve learned that a CEO cannot afford to become frozen by the gravity of the challenge at hand. Employees, clients and partners have anxieties, and leaders need to temper that and try to see past the current situation. It is my goal that Resolute Investment Managers will be stronger on the other side of the pandemic. Change always creates winners and losers and I want us to be one of the winners. While I certainly don’t have it all figured out, I do know we have to avoid being paralyzed by the negative aspects of the current challenge.
The financial services sector has made great strides towards digitizing their operations and preparing for a more decentralized work environment. Despite this progress, how prepared are asset managers for the drastic work changes they’re suddenly faced with?
I can speak to our own firm and our experience with the partners with whom we work on a daily basis. The employees of Resolute Investment Managers, our parent company, and American Beacon Advisors are 100% work-from-home at this point and we made the transition readily. Each of our employees are equipped with a laptop, and we test our remote working capabilities every year, most recently in December 2019.
Our affiliate companies are similarly equipped, and close to 100% of those employees are working from home. We’ve also been very pleased with the transition that all our various partners have made to alternative working arrangements. This includes our fund service providers (e.g., custodian, accountant, transfer agent, etc.) and the sub-advisors to the American Beacon Funds. From our perspective, the transition has been seamless.
What are you hearing from your affiliate asset managers and sub-advisors about their confidence in the market’s ability to react to and handle the volatility we’re seeing?
Our affiliates and sub-advisors have confidence that our capital markets will weather this heightened volatility. However, success in this regard has required monetary and fiscal intervention we haven’t seen in 12 years. The recent rise in the capital markets suggests that investors have confidence that monetary and fiscal authorities will continue to do anything in their power to support the economy and stabilize capital markets.
We have been somewhat surprised by the speed and the magnitude of stimulus that has been injected. Our present-day politics are not conducive to coming to rapid agreement on multi-trillion-dollar spending packages, but that is what happened. If, however, volatility turns higher again (which is more likely than not), we are subscribers to the “stay the course” philosophy. There is an old saying from Peter Lynch that “time in the market is better than timing the market.” These are prescient words that are just as applicable today as they were when he first made the statement decades ago.
The massive dislocation in the markets is causing a lot of pressure on the entire financial landscape, especially smaller fund managers. Do you see opportunities to step in and provide capital/pursue acquisitions that can benefit both the managers and Resolute?
Our view is that achieving organic growth is and has been the most significant challenge for an asset management business of any size, and this view is unchanged by the coronavirus pandemic and associated market volatility. In fact, growth may become even harder to achieve going forward. Asset management businesses will experience the financial pain associated with reverse operating leverage from market declines, but that can be (and hopefully will be) a temporary challenge if and when asset prices reflate.
Even more painful, however, is the loss of client assets, and this pain can be permanent without the ability to attract new clients and open new channels of distribution. Asset managers play a role in the value chain and downstream from us are wealth management businesses that are also experiencing financial challenges. If the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis repeats itself, then wealth management businesses will have to constrain their own costs, which means – in part – shrinking their product platforms thereby restricting distribution for second-tier asset management partners. Our own platform can be an attractive solution for exceptional asset managers that need a distribution partner while also maintaining their independence and unique culture.
What words of wisdom can you give to investors concerned about how to react to the current environment?
We just ended a bull market that is unlike anything I’ve seen in my career. It was not only a record bull run for its duration and cumulative total return, but also for its low levels of volatility. It is our view that volatility will return to a normal level and we will see the recent decade (especially the past five years) as unusually placid. If true, then active managers in virtually all asset classes will have more abundant alpha-generating opportunities than they had in the past decade.
Additionally, investors are likely to have learned that diversification and downside-protection are not cyclical investment tools to be used episodically. Because of the swiftness of this draw down, investors should be motivated to keep a degree of protection in their portfolios at all times. Somewhat ironically, our marketing theme for the year is “Navigating Volatility.” We didn’t predict how or when higher volatility would return to the markets, but we knew it was a matter of when – not if – it would happen. Since January, we’ve been working with our clients to help them prepare for higher volatility and navigate such an environment.
Gene L. Needles, Jr. serves as chairman and CEO of Resolute Investment Managers. He also serves as chairman and CEO of American Beacon Advisors and president of American Beacon Funds, and holds additional senior leadership positions with other organizations affiliated with the company. Prior to joining American Beacon Advisors in 2009, he served as president of Touchstone Investments, part of the Western & Southern Financial Group. From 1993 through 2007, Mr. Needles was with AIM Investments and subsequently Invesco (through the merger of AIM and Invesco), progressing from regional vice president to president and CEO of Invesco Distributors in 2004. In this role, he was responsible for distributing products that included mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separate accounts, variable annuities, sub-advised portfolios, collective trusts, offshore funds, retirement plans and college savings plans. In addition, he worked as a vice president at Putnam Investments and MetLife State Street before moving to AIM. Mr. Needles received his B.A. in English from Iowa State University in 1978.
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Right Side Up
Right Side Up
A Conversation With
Joseph Cavatoni
A Conversation With
Joseph Cavatoni
Head of Americas, World Gold Council
Global markets have been on a roller coaster since late February, impacting every asset class and aspect of the financial world. One area that has been front and center – in a good way – has been gold, as investors looked for ways to shield their portfolios amidst the unprecedented volatility. To help add some insight and perspective on this, we sat down with one of the leading experts on this topic: Joseph Cavatoni, Head of Americas at World Gold Council.
Joe, first things first, how are you holding up in the current environment?
All things considered, we’re doing well. Most importantly, our team is safe and everyone is keeping their spirits up. These are challenging and unique times, but we’re encouraged that our contingency and continuity plans have worked as planned and the shift to a remote workplace has been easier than expected.
As for the business, our mission and goals remain the same – educate the marketplace, speak with clients, issue new research, and be a voice for the industry – though the output has been on a much more amplified level. Transparency and high quality, credible information are critical during times of crisis, so we’ve raised the volume.
And as it relates specifically to gold, everything is functioning well under the conditions, and gold is performing exactly as expected. It’s an asset class that is front and center in the current environment, so it’s more imperative than ever for us to be a resource to investors and to provide real-time insights, data, and analysis.
Gold is one of the best performing asset classes year-to-date, though like everything else, it hasn’t been immune to market volatility. What’s your overall take on this?
Gold is behaving exactly as it should, which is incredibly comforting amidst all the volatility. During times of panic, fundamentals and underlying data often goes out the window as anxious investor behavior and declining market sentiment sets the pace. The entire investment ecosystem is undergoing a severe repricing in ways we’ve frankly never seen. However, we’re optimistic that gold will stay the course and reach or exceed the 18% plus growth we saw in 2019.
Gold is generally known as a safe haven, but the current volatility has shined a light on its role as an important asset class within investment portfolios. Investors of all sizes, from retail “Mom & Pop” to pension funds and other large institutional asset owners, are looking not just at performance – which fortunately for gold has been strong – but also on how gold interacts with other parts of their portfolios – in terms of attributes like diversification, correlations and liquidity.
Despite recent outflows, gold-backed ETFs have actually been flow positive this year – up $15.9 billion YTD. Does this surprise you?
Not at all. Over the last quarter century, exchange traded funds (ETFs) have established themselves as one of the most effective and mainstream way to the market. Their rise is well-documented – and for good reason: intra-day pricing, low cost, access to asset classes once reserved for only the largest investors, etc. They’ve helped carry the baton that mutual funds first ran with and will likely only continue to grow.
As for gold ETFs, it’s been a marriage made in heaven. People are becoming increasingly more knowledgeable about gold and how its benefits, and ETFs are a user-friendly vehicle to access it.
Governments and global central banks have reacted extremely aggressively to help counteract the economic impact of the virus. What’s your reaction to these policy efforts?
Central banks have little choice but to reassure the markets. We are in unprecedented waters right now, so all options must be on the table, from central banks to government relief efforts.
The breadth of the support is impressive but not altogether surprising. Once everyone truly grasped the impact of COVID-19, it was assumed that global leaders would step up to bolster their economies. But what has been surprising is the speed with which leaders have moved considering that governments aren’t necessarily known for being nimble or agile. In just a few short weeks, we’ve seen unprecedented stimulus efforts drafted and passed.
Looking ahead, what are you keeping a close eye on?
Like everyone else, we’re tracking the spread of the virus and hoping to see the curve flatten soon. While we’re obviously closely monitoring gold’s performance in the global markets, it’s important to recognize the humanitarian toll this pandemic is taking. We are hopeful the anticipated peaks will come sooner rather than later so we can start seeing the other side of this. Once the numbers start to slow down and reverse, we’ll see a trickle-down effect to the markets as investors regain confidence and global economies start to strengthen.
On a lighter note, when you’re not researching and talking about gold, how have you been spending your time at home?
When working at home, the lines between “work” and “home” really start to blur, so it’s important to maintain a sense of schedule and make a conscious effort to step away from the computer for downtime. Go for a walk, play ping pong, read with your children, listen to a podcast, make a fancy dinner and have the family get dressed up. Get creative!
And Netflix of course ?
Joseph Cavatoni
Head of Americas, World Gold Council
Joseph Cavatoni joined the World Gold Council in September 2016 to lead US business strategy, which includes oversight of investor relationships, product solutions, research and marketing. In addition, Joe spearheads the firm’s global distribution and ETFs platform and serves as member of the Executive Committee.
During his three-decade career in the financial services industry, Joe has developed and demonstrated expertise in the areas of global capital markets, exchange traded funds, asset management, trading and business/platform development. He also spent more than 15 years working in Asia. Prior to joining the World Gold Council, Joe was a managing director at BlackRock where he was responsible for iShares Capital Markets – Americas and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. His responsibilities also included product development and management as well as running a global team. Prior to BlackRock, he held senior positions at UBS, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America focused on equity derivatives training, securities financing and lending.
Joe holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from George Washington University and a Master of Business Administration degree jointly from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
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If your firm needs help changing perceptions, building awareness, or driving growth, you’ve come to the right place. Reach out to us–we’d love to hear from you!
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