Substantive Research

PRACTICE AREAS

Strategic counsel, media relations, thought leadership, social media (organic), event support, awards and media coaching.

THE CLIENT

Substantive Research provides spend analytics on investment research and market data for the buy side. The company monitors and curates investment research and provides data-driven analytics that tracks providers and benchmarks pricing for financial institutions.  Its end clients represent a combined AUM of more than $18 trillion and total assets of over $25 trillion.

THE CHALLENGE

Substantive Research’s clients are impacted by regulatory frameworks including MiFID II and regulatory developments such as the FCA study into the wholesale market data industry. The company’s CEO and data analyst teams have a deep understanding of these key regulations and their real-world implications for the market. 

What’s more, Substantive Research has access to utterly unique insights on market trends, based on regular, in-depth customer surveys, canvassing the views and practices of the world’s leading asset management firms. 

The challenge was how these proprietary insights, which have profound implications for the wider market, could be communicated to the industry at large in a compelling and accurate way, to raise awareness of the company’s research discovery and spend analytics solutions.

THE CAMPAIGNS

  • Our team devised and delivered strategic campaigns for each area of Substantive Research’s asset management surveys, and each regulatory area of importance to its clients. 
  • We shaped narratives and talking points, anticipating areas of media concern and curiosity.
  • As well as running the virtual press office, we drove media engagement, brokered exclusives and newsjacked relevant opportunities. 
  • We provided copywriting and editing support for thought leadership articles supporting each area of research and regulatory theme.  
  • After researching and tracking potential awards opportunities from key publications, our team drafted successful submissions for the most important, bringing Substantive Research’s business the recognition it deserves.

THE RESULTS

  • From January 2021 to December 2023 we have achieved wide-reaching coverage across all relevant institutional and buyside titles including the Financial Times (8 times), the WSJ, Financial News, Institutional Investor, Investment and Pensions Europe, The Trade, Markets Media, Best Execution, Institutional Asset Manager, Tabb Forum, City AM and Yahoo Finance.
  • Media relations: leveraging our media relationships and knowledge of what editors need, we were able to place news and comment in key tier 1 publications including the FT and Financial News, as well as in the key trade publications such as Waters Technology, The Trade and Best Execution.  
  • Thought Leadership: as a result of our content / editing support and media knowledge, Substantive Research’s CEO was appointed ‘Editor-at-Large’ with TabbFORUM, and had articles featured in numerous other industry publications.
  • Social media: as part of all survey and research-driven campaigns, our team drafted social media content to extend the lifetime of each story and gain further engagement. 
  • Coaching: we provided media coaching to Substantive Research’s spokespeople and secured speaking slots for the CEO at relevant industry conferences.
  • Substantive Research has won two awards recently: Waters Inside Market Data Awards: Best ESG Data Initiative; ESG Insight Awards: Best Dashboard Solution for ESG.
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