Peregrine Communications is a marketing communications agency focused on brand building, brand protection and lead generation for the asset management industry.
The firm’s expertise spans four areas: the first is outsourced marketing. The Peregrine team takes responsibility for all aspects of a client’s marketing needs: brand conception, website, marketing collateral, video, newsletters, targeted advertising, investor facing events and media relations.
Second is media relations with the third element being internal communications and alignment. “Hedge funds tend to run very niche strategies so aligning their team to accurately reflect what they do is something we help with; within that we would help with pitch presentations, media coaching and training. The fourth area is design services: brand design, website construction,” comments Anthony Payne (pictured), Chief Executive.
Peregrine is far from being a typical run-of-the-mill PR firm. What it brings to its clients is a rare combination of art and science.
Art because Peregrine is a specialist in its field and can help clients communicate their investment edge by packaging their story visually for the right channels.
‘A clear brand message and specialist story telling with beautiful design are a key part of what we deliver to clients. The science is all about fully integrating activities across all channels and providing centralised and detailed analytics on which parts of marketing are working – and which are not. Telling the story and proving that it works is the art and science of what we can offer,” explains Payne.
Last year Peregrine spread its wings and opened a New York office, which currently consists of a five-person team headed up by Max Hilton. It is also currently in the early stages of investigating the possibility of opening an office in Hong Kong.
‘We have tremendous depth and breadth of team, with technical and marketing specialists such as Ermanno Mattio, Paul Wynne and Ed Dunn as well as creative, video and design skills headed by Alan Pitchforth and a very strong account services group including Max Hilton, Dan Jason, James Sumpster, Darius Athill and Edward Jenkins,” says Payne.
At Peregrine, care is taken to understand how each piece of marketing communications fits into the overall business strategy. The construction of a website, social media management, digital advertising; each one plays its role in building a brand and growing AUM.
“Integrated marketing communications is what we deliver. What we are noticing is that US hedge fund managers are beginning to use content strategies, in particular using video. We are working with one well-known manager, for example, on an animated educational video; it’s a trend that is starting to emerge with hedge funds,” notes Payne.
To build a brand in the alternatives space needs to be done on the back of thought leadership, says Payne. “Managers have to communicate what makes them different, what’s their investment thesis? And how can that message translate across different pieces of content?
“It is a technical exercise and to do it successfully managers need a specialist partner. One who has the people that write great content as well as designers who can create a visual impact for the brand. That is exactly what we bring to the table,” emphasises Payne.
