For decades, LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has remained mostly in the shadows when it comes to broad marketing and advertising its brand, a rapidly growing, giant of a wealth management firm that currently works with 32,000 financial advisors.
LPL has softened its antipathy to mainstream marketing recently, but on Wednesday morning it broke with its past and said it had reached a deal that will have its name and commercials featured next year on CBS and ESPN during some major golf tournaments.
The PGA of America and LPL Financial announced a new four-year partnership naming LPL as the official wealth management and investment advisory partner across the PGA of America’s Major Championships as well as programs and events for veterans.
The PGA of America, which owns and operates the Ryder Cup, split decades ago from the PGA Tour. Golf on television has been a longtime favorite of a variety of financial services firms, including banks, money managers and now independent broker-dealers and registered investment advisors like LPL.
The stated and unstated reasoning for LPL’s reluctance to advertise was its fear of upstaging the names, faces and personalities of its financial advisors, the overwhelming majority of whom work as so-called independent investment advisors because they are not employees of LPL but work and are paid as independent contractors.
“This partnership is a powerful milestone for LPL as we build on the momentum of our national brand launch and expand our reach with new audiences,” said Rich Steinmeier, CEO of LPL Financial, in a statement. “Success in both golf and wealth management is grounded in discipline, long-term strategy and trusted guidance—values that define our advisors and their clients.”
“Together with the PGA of America, we’re connecting advisors with PGA Golf Professionals to create exclusive opportunities for investors to experience the game of golf on courses nationwide,” Steinmeier added.
This marks LPL’s first official sports partnership, according to the company. Starting next year, the partnership will include broadcast and digital spots, as well as visibility across the PGA Championship, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Senior PGA Championship.
A year ago, Steinmeier and LPL began to lengthen the firm’s marketing reach and unveiled a national ad campaign featuring “Pitch Perfect” film star Anna Kendrick delivering the message, “What if you could?”
The series of ads featuring Kendrick was a first for LPL. In the past, many independent advisors have been displeased with parent companies like LPL putting the spotlight on their own names and brands rather than those of financial advisors.
In 2013, LPL dipped its toe into national advertising when it bought time for short ads on business news channel CNBC. But those ad spots were just 10 seconds long and popped up in between news segments, appearing 10 times a day on CNBC for a month and a half.
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