On June 15 this year, leading city figures gathered at London's Guildhall for the annual Thomson Reuters Extel Survey Awards. Now in its 37th year, the 2010 survey came off the back of a tumultuous 2009 for the investment community. Amid a more upbeat outlook for 2010 (albeit tempered by some macro-economic problems) financial PR consultancy Penrose was asked to stir up interest ahead of the event and ensure that its results were covered Europe-wide. And, while the event itself is an awards ceremony, it was important to recognise that the survey is far more than a self-congratulatory pat on the back for the industry. It offers extensive insight and analysis that goes much further than congratulating the best performers in each field. 

Objectives

The goal was to demonstrate that Extel provides real value and insight – representing an exhaustive and authoritative analysis of the most skilful teams, individuals and key trends right across the investment community. Other aims included:

• increasing participation in the survey
• promoting the results of the survey to an international audience
• maintaining the survey's reputation as the leading voice in the investment community

Strategy

With nominations opening in mid-March, Penrose was in regular contact with the key press early on to update them on the survey and how it was proceeding, all the while stressing the importance of the information given the current economic climate. The Times was given an exclusive on the timing and venue for this year's awards, a tactic that was repeated in late May when announcing that John Humphrys would compère the ceremony.

Ahead of the awards, Steve Kelly, managing director of Extel surveys, exclusively briefed Financial Times Fund Management (FTfm) on certain aspects of the survey with a view to editorial running on Monday 14 June (the day before the event). There was also an FTfm video interview with Steve Kelly to accompany the print coverage to appear online on 14 June. Pre-briefings were additionally held with The Daily Telegraph and Financial News.

Another crucial aspect was the Pan-European nature of the survey. Although Extel is based in London, the information collected is truly European – from Ankara to Zagreb. The investment community is international and the press coverage needed to reflect this fact. Accordingly, Penrose supplied embargoed exclusive country specific data to L'Agefi of France; Il Sole 24 Ore of Italy, Expansion of Spain; Handelsblatt of Germany; Borsen of Denmark; Dagens Industri of Sweden; De Tijd of Belgium; Finanz und Wirtschaft of Switzerland; Het Financieele Dagblad of Holland; Dagens Naeringsliv Dagbladet of Norway and Kauppalehti of Finland, as well as interviews with Steve Kelly for further information. In addition to such exclusives, there was a co-ordinated campaign to ensure the results were picked up in other national outlets.

Results

2010 broke new records for participation, with over 300,000 votes in total. Nearly 10,000 investment professionals, representing 1,700 asset management firms, 650 quoted companies and 220 brokerage firms/research providers, took part to rank and assess their counterparts.

Over 74 press cuttings were generated in June alone – including a front-page exclusive with FTfm on the Monday ahead of the awards, as well as a further piece on independent research providers in the same issue – an angle provided by Extel during the pre-briefing. A five-minute video interview with Pauline Skypala, editor of FTfm, and Steve Kelly also featured on 14 June.

Following the event, UK national newspaper coverage was achieved in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Independent, Evening Standard and City AM. Coverage was also secured in financial wires Reuters and Financial News, both of whom were given aspects of the survey beforehand under embargo.

The reputation of the Thomson Reuters Extel Survey was firmly cemented as the key barometer of sentiment in the investment community right across Europe. Excellent European coverage was secured – a fundamental aspect of the brief.