assured guaranty: a case study rebuilding a business …€¦ · the gate assured guaranty: a case...

ASSURED GUARANTY: A CASE STUDYREBUILDING A BUSINESS BY RESURRECTING THE CATEGORY

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the gate assured guar anty: a case study

OURINSURANCECLIENT:ASSUREDGUARANTY

For over 30 years, Assured Guaranty hasdemonstrated the financial strength and riskmanagement skills to become the leader in

the municipal bond insurance category.

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WHAT IS MUNICIPAL BOND INSURANCE?

Municipal “muni” bonds are government debtobligations that provide local municipalities (i.e.

states, cities or counties) the funds to build schools,bridges, highways, hospitals etc.

While muni bonds are widely considered a safeinvestment, there are times when an issuer doesdefault – think Chicago, Detroit and Puerto Rico.

With an insured muni bond, the insurance provider(such as Assured Guaranty) ensures that investors

will receive 100% of their principal and interestshould the municipality default.

4REBUILDING A DECIMATED CATEGORY

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BUT FIRST, WEHAD TO DEALWITH THEFINANCIALAPOCALYPSE

After the financial meltdown of 2008, the once-thriving municipal bond insurance category wasreduced to a shaky handful of weak participants.

Market share of insured muni bonds declined from 50% prior to 2008 to 5%.

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THECHALLENGE:RESTORECONFIDENCE

Emphatically and directly illustrate the benefit ofmuni bond insurance, providing reassurance that

in uncertain financial times, Assured Guarantyguarantees your principal and interest.

7GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGIES

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COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES

• Reestablish faith in the category:

» Increase demand for insured bonds.

• Reeducate decision makers:

» Increase the understanding of financial insurance benefits.

• Reinforce AG’s financial strength:

» Show that Assured Guaranty is the category leader and thus can pay back the interest and principal should the municipality default.

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A BIFURCATEDTARGET: B2C AND B2B

• Municipalities who issue bonds to raise funds for capital projects – B2B.

• Bankers who work with municipalities to bring muni bonds to the market and decide which provider will insure their bonds – B2B.

• Those who purchase bonds as an investment – mostly B2C.

10MEDIA STRATEGIES

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A fully integrated, multi-tiered program designed to reach both our broad as well as our niche audiences with

different tactics for each audience and medium.

MEDIAAPPROACH

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Push … the retail audience to start the conversation with their financial advisors, asking not only about muni bonds as a part of their investment portfolio, but more specifically the benefits of muni bonds, insured by Assured Guaranty.

Pull … the institutional audience in by regaining trust in the category and by way of consistent presence, reinforcing Assured Guaranty’s strengths and product quality so they are top of mind.

MEDIAOBJECTIVES –PUSH & PULL

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Broad-reaching TV with a niche-buying strategy:

• CNBC/TV to deliver the bond traders and buyers when they are working/trading.

• Golf/TV to deliver the very upper-income investors and financial advisors when they are viewing and have sound on.

Highly targeted digital, each effort with a very distinctpurpose:

• Retargeting to reconnect with those already seeking out AG.

• Contextual, connecting with people consuming content relevant to AG’s business.

• Direct buys on sites/pages with bond content relevant to those obsessed with bonds.

Focus on the trade with print media:

• Continuity strategy to force frequency.

• Impact strategy with weekly, full-page ads.

SOLUTION:A FULLYINTEGRATED/MULTI-TIEREDPROGRAM

14BRINGING THE STRATEGIES TO LIFE

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In a world of continued economic uncertainty, muni bonds insured by Assured Guaranty are protected, no matter what.

Through TV, print and digital, the creative campaign captures Assured Guaranty’s reason for being, explaining the product in real terms, in order to provide reassurance and confidence in

the company and category.

Print and digital expand on the product benefits and AG’s strength and stability, building confidence that with AG your muni bond

principal and interest will always be “guaranteed.”

CREATIVESTRATEGY:“GUARANTEED”

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assured guar anty: a case study

TV: BRAND CAMPAIGN “WINDS”

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PRINT: BRAND CAMPAIGN “WINDS”

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We extended the campaign beyond the brandmessage to include tactical targeting to our B2B

audience and digital for our B2C prospects.

Both built confidence in Assured’s ability to“guarantee” an investment by highlighting their

12 billion dollars in claims-paying resources and 11 billion-dollar investment portfolio.

TACTICALCAMPAIGNEXTENSIONS

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PRINT: TRADE-FOCUSED CAMPAIGN – “GUARANTEED”

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DIGITAL: RETAIL “GUARANTEED”

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After surviving the financial crisis, Assured’s“Guaranteed” campaign took a confident stand as theadvocates for muni bond insurance, slowly breathing

new life into the decimated category.

In a historically tough environment – low interest ratesover the past few years – AG continues to grow,leading the category year over year in both par

amount and the number of transactions insured with a60% market share.

RESULTS:LEADINGFROM THEFRONT

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CONTACT

Beau FraserPresident

The Gate | New York

212 508-3450

[email protected]

ASSURED GUARANTY: A CASE STUDYREBUILDING A BUSINESS BY RESURRECTING THE CATEGORY

assured guaranty: a case study rebuilding a business …€¦ · the gate assured guaranty: a case...

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