Allan Gray, Ninety One, Old Mutual, and Coronation top asset manager brand awareness list

Allan Gray has the strongest brand among South African investors, followed by Ninety One, Old Mutual, Coronation, and Stanlib.

On the other end of the scale, Futuregrowth, Foord, and Fairtree Capital have the worst brand awareness among large fund managers.

These were some of the findings in Daily Investor’s 2023 South African Investor Report, based on responses from 1,443 retail and institutional investors.

The survey was conducted in July 2023, and most respondents were high-income earners who actively invested.

The results revealed that Allan Gray has the strongest brand among South African investors, with 34% saying they would choose them if they had to invest money with an asset manager today.

Ninety One ranked second at 20%, up from 17% last year. This significant increase shows a good marketing and brand awareness strategy from the company.

Old Mutual, Coronation, and Stanlib completed the top 5, with between 6% and 7% of respondents picking them as their preferred asset manager.

All these top firms have aggressive marketing strategies to make them trusted household names among South Africans.

This is necessary to build confidence in the brand and ensure investors trust them with their hard-earned money.

On the other end of the scale, Futuregrowth, Foord, and Fairtree Capital have the worst brand awareness among large fund managers.

This is typically a sign of poor marketing. However, it is not clear whether it is a strategy or poor marketing execution.

The chart below provides an overview of the brand awareness of South Africa’s large asset managers.

Smaller wealth managers

Brenthurst has the strongest brand among smaller boutique wealth managers in South Africa. 10X Investments finished second, followed by Efficient Wealth.

Brenthurst’s strong performance is a result of effective marketing, reaching the right audience through targeted promotional content, webinars, and email marketing.

The strong media presence of director Magnus Heystek also helps Brenthurst stay top-of-mind.

Efficient Wealth’s chief economist, Dawie Roodt, also has a strong media presence, which has helped the company grow its brand awareness and ensure people trust it.

Roodt regularly features on TV, radio, and online interviews and is one of the most quoted economists in business articles.