Private Equity Brand Identity

Extracted 16NOV2011 from http://www.backbaycommunications.com/sites/all/files/backbay/PrivateEquityBra...

Executive Summary

  • 70 percent of survey respondents considered a strong brand to be “very important” for a private equity firm, while 29 percent considered it to be “somewhat important”. Only 1 percent thought it was unimportant.
  • Fundraising is the activity for which having a strong brand is deemed most important, followed by deal flow and recruiting and retaining talent.
  • After limited partners, the audience with which it is most important to have a strong brand is CEOs of target portfolio companies.
  • A good track record of investment returns is the most commonly cited attribute of a strong private equity brand, closely followed by a “clearly articulated firm positioning”.
  • More than half of the private equity firms surveyed had boosted spending on their marketing materials and website in the last year. Likewise, more than half intended to do so in the coming 12 months.
  • Just over a quarter of survey respondents (26 percent) said their firm was using social media in some way. Another 30 percent said they were not using it, but would like to start doing so.