Gargiulo + Partners was engaged to assist with investor presentations for one of the largest initial public offerings in U.S. history. We sharpened and clarified the message and prepared management to present its story, simply and directly, at a time of financial market turmoil.

As with any IPO, timing was critical, and this assignment presented particular challenges. We were called in just days before the start of the aggressively scheduled roadshow, with the core equity story largely in place. The logic of the transaction was inherently, powerfully compelling, but it wasn't coming across as strongly in the written materials or the spoken presentation.

In the short timeframe available, Gargiulo + Partners helped the chief executive and his management team improve their presentation to potential investors by identifying an overarching theme and honing the message around it. We rehearsed management to deliver the story as an integrated narrative, as opposed to separate sections on business, network, and financials.

Management presented the story confidently and persuasively. The offering was priced and sold successfully, exceeding market expectations.

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This large, successful, but little-known quantitative investment manager was preparing for the launch of a new investment strategy and sought to build brand awareness among institutional investors, consultants, and retail investment professionals. The firm's chief executive engaged Gargiulo + Partners to develop a positioning platform, marketing messages, and materials for the new strategy.

Adding to the challenge was the firm's need to explain its complex new active-extension strategy to prospects of varying degrees of financial sophistication. We began by assessing the firm's reputational strengths and weaknesses, and its position relative to other quantitative managers offering the same strategy.

Upon completing the research, Gargiulo + Partners delivered some tough but critical information to the CEO: Many of the strengths touted by the client-facing professionals in the firm, while of indisputably high quality, were not differentiating but, in fact, baseline capabilities for any quantitative manager. Based on the distinctive strengths we identified, we were able to develop credible and compelling core messaging and brand positioning.

We then proposed a comprehensive program to advance that positioning. The program encompassed white papers, marketing presentations, retail collateral materials, new website content, and an FAQ document for the new active-extension strategy. As a final step, the CEO asked Gargiulo + Partners to develop the PowerPoint presentation, with speaker notes, to market the new strategy. The messaging was used as the basis for a brochure and other collateral materials in the program.

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