News Blackstone, Apollo, Blue Owl Raise Bar for Alts Manager Brand-Building

By Chris Larson

Alternative fund managers targeting financial advisors and accredited investors are starting to rely on branding tools they have seldom used - such as TV ads and sports sponsorship deals - to compete for attention and neutralize the name recognition and retail market advantage their traditional manager peers enjoy.

Every message needs to be carefully calibrated. "High-net-worth individuals and families are often sophisticated investors, so it's very important for managers to portray an image of credibility, accessibility and partnership to this audience,"

- Richard Dukas, CEO of Dukas Linden Public Relations.

While the moves by firms such as Blackstone, Apollo Global Management and Blue Owl Capital this year are nascent, there are indications that private fund managers sponsoring alts products with periodic liquidity, such as interval funds and business development companies, may have an early edge with higher-dollar advisors in terms of brand preference.

And some alts managers - including Apollo and KKR - are aiming even more widely at the mass market with exchange-traded funds or interval funds with low investment minimums.

Branding is yet another task for private fund managers, in addition to the education, added sales staff and new product structures that competing in the semi-liquid alts market may require. While broader advertising and marketing are areas that alts players have not traditionally focused on, managers of all sizes are likely to pursue such efforts.

"Increasing penetration into the wealth market is the number one strategic priority for most private assets managers today," said Richard Bruyere, managing partner at consultancy Indefi.

But such campaigns carry significant costs and challenges and need to be carefully planned and executed, industry observers say.

And the efforts need to focus on results and "how to build a brand that stands out from the crowd," according to a Prosek Partners report last month. "Learning how to communicate with the mass market will become even more vital when private markets firms find themselves competing head-on for share of voice with large, traditional asset managers."

Marketing isn't new for alts managers: many have long honed their messaging to institutions, consultants and high-end advisors to qualified investors. But with the rise of semi-liquid strategies and more mass-market focused products, some managers are now casting a wider net.

Apollo was an early mover, in January announcing a sponsorship deal that made professional golfer Patrick Cantlay the firm's "first brand partner," with the manager's logo - as well as that of its Athene insurance affiliate - on his clothes when he hits the links.

Blue Owl, meanwhile, was a sponsor at this year's U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, a deal that included the manager's name being blazoned across advertisements in Times Square and Grand Central Station, and on some players' shirts.

And last spring, Blackstone ran an ad on CNBC, featuring a goldfish bowl in a richly populated coral reef - the message being, if you only invest in public markets, you're missing out on far larger opportunities that the biggest alts player can provide.

The moves aim to increase advisor and investor awareness of alternatives and alts managers. As such, the marketing campaigns center on company branding rather than specific products or strategies.

"We expect the vast majority of alts advertising will focus on firm brand-building, not a product push," said Amanda Tepper, managing partner at management consulting firm Chestnut Advisory Group.

Among the messages that managers will try to get across is that they are skilled at investing and that they will put clients' interest first, she said.

"To be effective, the advertising element of this brand-building must resonate with all of the decision makers in the retail hiring process," including the end-client, Tepper added, "though the primary target of most of these ads is the wealth advisor, not the end individual investor."

For some alternatives managers, all of this will require a new mindset, one that allows them to open their wallets.

"Brand recognition and brand differentiation remain significant barriers to growth," said Dan Allocca, partner and head of the digital, paid and analytics practice at Prosek. "Reaching advisors and the end consumer will require a real commitment to marketing."

But not every alts manager is ready for that step.

"The biggest reason we may not see everyone making big investments in marketing campaigns is the costs associated with such efforts. Many alternative asset managers are not accustomed to spending substantial amounts on marketing," said Kira Mikulecky, partner at Deloitte.

Advisor AppetitePrivate fund managers are not just competing against each other - they're also up against traditional managers that have also been building alts products while harnessing the distribution platforms, advisor relationships and branding efforts they already built for their mutual fund and ETF businesses.

That includes BlackRock, which has been growing in alternatives. "They already have high awareness among financial advisors and home offices, along with deep pockets to market" in areas like private equity, said James Lesser, an independent asset management marketing consultant.

Pure alts managers may have an edge today with advisors that already invest in alts products in the semi-liquid market, according to the recent FT Fund Image U.S. 2024/25 report. That survey of 516 advisors conducted over the summer found that 38% of advisors currently investing in alts somewhat or strongly preferred to invest with private markets-focused managers such as KKR and Apollo, well above the 25% that named traditional managers such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton.

The edge for private alts managers also held up among survey respondents who work for wirehouses and those with books of business topping $500 million.

But the survey results flipped on their head for advisors who currently don't invest in alts but plan to in the "long term." Only 10% of such advisors said they prefer the private markets players, compared with a healthy 42% that preferred the traditional managers with alternative investing businesses.

The good news for alts managers is that investors and advisors are interested in learning more about alternative products and managers, according to another recent survey from Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions. "Overwhelmingly, our study highlights that investors want their advisor to lead the way," said John Sweeney, the Brookfield-Oaktree group's CEO. A vast majority of investors, he added, "said they would invest in alts if their advisor recommended it."

Branding StrategyHow managers craft their messages and which branding tools they use will become important breakpoints.

"Messaging will lean into the firm's market insights and perspectives, their capabilities and their unique position and competitive advantage in the marketplace," Lesser said.

The branding efforts will certainly include more sports sponsorships, though some will probably also try for more personalized approaches, with campaigns that "humanize their organization" and emphasize "trust and authenticity," said Mikulecky.

Every message needs to be carefully calibrated. "High-net-worth individuals and families are often sophisticated investors, so it's very important for managers to portray an image of credibility, accessibility and partnership to this audience," said Richard Dukas, CEO of Dukas Linden Public Relations.

But alts managers will need to walk a fine line.

"Managers who want to reorient their brand to be more recognizable to the mass market will have to balance their ambitions between sufficient name recognition by retail clients and not losing the sophisticated, high-value positioning that intermediary and institutional clients look to them for," Bruyere said.

Either way, there's widespread agreement that alternatives managers will be looking to build their brands more and more.

"We have already seen several of the big alternative managers invest in elevating and improving their digital platforms like website and social, as well as make notable investments into their brand," Mikulecky said.