Financial Services

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray capabilities brochure

When Piper Jaffray merged with U.S. Bancorp it had a new name and a new identity. But what did that mean for clients? The new capabilities brochure written by Elizabeth Child was a high image piece that showed the firm's quality. "The Power of Two" headline proclaimed the merger's advantages for the client. Spreads with bold images and quick descriptions of attributes projected a company with confidence.

Piper Jaffray "Teach Children" News Release

Read Release

This news release announced a national program in which Piper Jaffray brokers firmwide visited schools for "Teach Children to Save" day. The release positioned the firm's commitment to education and helped garner a national television placement on CNNfn.

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Media Relations Case Study

The Challenge:
U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray needed its equity research analysts to achieve the stature of Wall Street-based analysts in order to elevate the image of the firm as a national player.

The Strategy:
In the brokerage business, research analysts are the brain trust. Their information and analysis motivates stock picking by brokers, institutional and individual traders and portfolio managers. The clout of a research analyst is often measured by his or her ability to influence buying and selling decisions - and be right. In the 1990s, business television became a vehicle for just about everyone to get up-to-the-minute research. This gave Piper Jaffray potential access to a national audience. If we could convince CNBC, CNNfn and others to interview our analysts, we would be seen and heard right along side all the major Wall Street players.

The Solution:
1. Mounted a broadcast quality camera on the trading floor, which allowed analysts to be seen on CNBC and other influential business television shows.
2. Launched an aggressive media relations program including TV training for each senior analyst. Treated media as clients by getting them information nearly as fast as we got it to our clients.
3. In addition, before major announcements such as earnings, we made sure reporters knew our analysts would be available to comment soon following the announcement.
4. We set up face-to-face media tours to build relationships between analysts and media.

The Results:
"I thought Piper Jaffray was based in New York," was a comment heard again and again from New York reporters. Awareness of the firm became widespread among both institutional and individual clients. Piper Jaffray analysts' ratings were consistently mentioned on CNBC. Piper Jaffray analysts were interviewed on CNBC and other major broadcast stations, and in major business press such as the Wall Street Journal. Research on Piper Jaffray's national media presence found that the firm's media coverage grew more than four-fold in the first two years of the media relations program.