Advertising won't grow membership, super funds toldBY JAMES FERNYHOUGH | WEDNESDAY, 3 SEP 2014 12:40PMSpending big on advertising may build brand awareness, but it has no effect on membership growth, according to research by CoreData.
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It appears the research results from CoreData negates the commentary from various Industry Super Funds that attempted to justify very large financial commitment to advertising programs across all facets of media, sporting team sponsorship and events for the reason that the spend was to build brand awareness which resulted in increased membership and which in-turn lead to cost efficiencies for all members based on volume and scale. In other words...."spend and they will come".
So, do the members of these funds appreciate the huge spend of their money on the building of their super funds brand with no direct resulting growth in membership?
Are the trustees of these funds approving this process in the knowledge that based on research, there is no quantifiable link between the financial commitment of members monies to advertising and an identifiable benefit flowing back to the members, other than their super funds logo is better recognised? Don't they have a primary responsibility to act in the best interest and to make decisions that benefit their members?