I am not a hockey fan, but I have always been drawn to the Wayne Gretzky quote: “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
Granted, this line has been flogged on countless occasions, but it remains a vivid and apt descriptor for how those in dynamic industries need to stay ahead of the curve.
For marketing communications professionals, this translates to positioning and brand awareness, as well as adopting messaging, strategy and programming that aligns with the current reality. In the vast world of capital markets, things are moving with extreme velocity, and those who don’t adapt will be playing catch up or not make the grade.
A case in point: The melding of traditional and decentralized finance — two worlds bridged by the now-accepted fact that blockchain (distributed ledger) technology is better suited for current and future finance, including the digitization (or tokenization) of assets and how they are bought, traded, brokered and custodied.
Now that the digital asset landscape has reached mass adoption — validated by gargantuan asset managers like BlackRock and further solidified by stablecoin provider Circle’s IPO – several industry leaders have emerged to pave the way for this structural shift.
Players from across the ecosystem – from asset managers to market structure firms, to professional services and fintechs – now have an opening to step into this new normal. More importantly, those who anticipated the shift and positioned themselves early have a first-mover advantage that will be hard to supplant.
One did not need to embrace the froth of the crypto craze and be seen as native to the industry to form views on where this was heading – even in blockchain’s infancy or after the FTX blow-up and bankruptcy.
What the marketplace needed to hear from experienced voices was, “We’ve seen this movie before. Decentralized finance will mature, weak players will fall away, and blockchain technology will modernize an antiquated financial architecture.”
Most importantly, industry leaders must constantly bring the messaging back to the lowest common denominator to explain why stakeholders, shareholders, customers and the broader industry will benefit via:
- Transparency
- Immutability
- Less friction
- Lower transaction costs
- Democratizing assets classes
- Serving the unbanked
I am old enough to remember when ‘alternative’ investments lived on their own island and were ostracized by the ‘traditional’ investment houses, only for those worlds to inevitably collide. Today, leading investment management platforms offer a broad array of investment solutions, including a selection of alternative investments, to better serve the diverse needs of their client base.
Don’t underestimate the pace of change. To ‘skate to where the puck is headed’ amid the melding of traditional and decentralized finance, firms need to prepare wisely and prudently. Keep your brand positioning and underlying messaging flexible enough to withstand change while remaining true to your original tenets.
Through acute and ongoing peer group research and analysis, an always-on earned, owned and paid media mentality, and an integrated in-sync marketing communications function that highlights and amplifies your value-add, you can thrive in times of flux.
