Fidelity blankets key site with ads

The entire underpass of a popular shopping mall -- escalators, walls and even the floors -- was covered this month with Fidelity posters and banners with headlines such as 'Get used to looking upwards' and 'When it comes to fund management, we don't take the usual route'. Print ads were more tactical, promoting its award-winning Fidelity European Funds. And from May to October, four public buses fully painted with the Fidelity brand will ply the island's main thoroughfares. This is the first time the company has embarked on an ad campaign since it entered Singapore in July last year. The blitz has been timed to mark its newly-acquired position as having the largest range of open-ended funds in Singapore (based on the number of funds recognised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore), according to Fidelity Investments Singapore general manager, Andrew Jenkins. Targeted at PMEBs (professionals, managers, executives and businessmen) aged 28 to 45 years, local advertising agency 10AM Communications and media agency OMD opted for unusual media buys and creatives. Print ads use the optician's vision-testing charts to drive home the message that Fidelity can give investors the sharpest vision when it comes to European investment opportunities. Fidelity also ran banner spreads at the top and bottom of local dailies. This was also the first time an entire underpass has been used by a single company for advertising, according to Fidelity. "We chose the Orchard Road/Tangs underpass because it is a high traffic and maximum visibility area. There's just no escaping it," Jenkins said. "We want people to start thinking about what they are doing with their money. It is never too late to make your money work harder for you. We believe that this branding exercise will remind investors of what we have been doing, and can do for them."