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This Gramercy Institute Financial Marketers’ Forum took place in New York in May 2026 and focused on the theme of "Fast Forward: New Ideas for Next Gen Financial Marketers.” The forum emphasized a number of key points including: brand as core growth driver, measurable trust, AI-driven commoditization, real-time personalization, financial wellness positioning, marketing-sales alignment, attention scarcity, and creativity differentiating human-led storytelling.
FMFR: FINANCIAL
MARKETING FORUM REPORT
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Brand has moved from a “marketing layer” to a core business asset that directly influences whether opportunities exist at all. It functions upstream of revenue, shaping trust, consideration, and ultimately pipeline quality.
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Trust is now a measurable growth driver, not a soft attribute. Leading firms are tying trust to concrete metrics like conversion, retention, and lifetime value, forcing tighter alignment across marketing, product, compliance, and client experience.
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AI has commoditized baseline content, making “pretty good” the norm. Competitive advantage now comes from distinctive brand voice, clear point of view, and emotionally resonant storytelling that AI alone cannot replicate.
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Personalization expectations have shifted from segmentation to real-time relevance across the entire lifecycle. Firms must deliver context-aware experiences spanning onboarding, service, and ongoing engagement—not just targeted campaigns.
Key Takeaways
Fast Forward: New Ideas for Next Gen Financial Marketers
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Financial wellness is emerging as a strategic platform for growth. Rather than selling products, firms can differentiate by helping clients gain a sense of control, positioning the brand as an enabler of better financial behavior and decision-making.
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Marketing and sales alignment remains a structural differentiator. Organizations that operate as a unified revenue engine—with shared KPIs, common definitions, and joint pipeline visibility—see stronger conversion rates and faster sales cycles.
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Attention is now the scarcest resource, requiring a shift from volume to precision. High-performing strategies emphasize concise, credible, and educational content distributed across fragmented, omnichannel journeys.
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Creativity is becoming more—not less—important in an AI-driven environment. AI accelerates production, but without strong human insight and narrative clarity, it amplifies sameness; the brands that stand out will pair AI scale with authentic, differentiated storytelling.
PRESENTATION
New Ideas for Next Gen Financial Marketers
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Bill Wreaks, CEO & Chief Analyst, Gramercy Institute
Beyond Trust: How Financial Brands Stay Relevant in 2026
Financial marketing is no longer defined by rates, products, or channels alone; it is shaped by clarity, confidence, and speed. As AI has made “pretty good” content widely available, differentiation now depends on brand trust and meaningful engagement. Consumers expect personalized, immediate, and easy-to-understand financial experiences, especially at the critical moment of decision. This shift is driven in part by Gen Z and millennials, who are active financial participants rather than passive audiences. They are mobile-first, pragmatic, and value transparency, flexibility, and guidance that respects both their goals and uncertainties.
At the same time, personalization must go beyond basic targeting. Financial institutions must deliver timely, relevant interactions across onboarding, content, service, and lifecycle communications. Trust is no longer a tagline but a core business driver, reinforced through clear messaging, responsible data use, and transparent practices. AI plays a key role by enabling better segmentation, predictive insights, and scalable personalization, but it must be guided by human judgment to avoid creating noise. Ultimately, success depends on combining data, creativity, and credibility while measuring outcomes like trust, retention, and long-term customer value.
PANEL
Brand Power: New Strategies to Fully Leverage The Financial Brand
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Gordon Abel, Managing Director, Chief Marketing Officer, Dynasty Financial Partners
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Anthony Nygren, Executive Vice President, EMI Strategic Marketing
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Michael Rodov, Founder & CEO, AdNode
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Catherine Weigel, Managing Partner, ETF Marketing, Sprott
The New Shape of Financial Marketing Teams: Integration, Intelligence, and the Rise of the “Multiplier Agency”
Brand emerged in this panel as far more than a visual identity or marketing layer; it was defined as a direct expression of a firm’s core identity and value. Panelists emphasized that a strong brand should clearly communicate a company’s point of view and deliver consistently on that promise. For firms positioned around expertise, this means offering reliable insight, especially during market volatility, and acting as a true partner to clients in both strong and uncertain conditions. While brands must remain agile as markets evolve, they should not become inconsistent or opportunistic.
A recurring theme was the challenge of measuring brand impact. Panelists described brand as a “leap of faith” and difficult to quantify and often far removed from final transactions. Yet, it is foundational to whether deals happen at all. Without trust and recognition, many opportunities never materialize. This underscores brand’s role as an upstream driver of business success rather than a downstream marketing output.
The discussion also highlighted how the definition of brand power has expanded. Today, it encompasses trust, relevance, and measurable business contribution, requiring alignment across marketing, customer experience, compliance, and product strategy. Firms must connect brand efforts directly to metrics such as conversion, retention, and lifetime value, rather than relying on surface-level indicators.
Panelists stressed the importance of staying relevant through personalization, data-driven insights, and seamless omnichannel experiences, while maintaining transparency and trust. Creativity remains essential in differentiating otherwise commoditized financial offerings, provided it balances clarity with compliance.
Finally, the group addressed emerging risks, particularly the impact of AI on brand perception. Firms must ensure technology strengthens rather than erodes trust. Ultimately, the strongest brands will be those that consistently align promise with experience, using brand as a long-term engine of confidence, growth, and competitive advantage.
PANEL
AI & Authentic Content:
Strategies to Effectively Connect with Today's Financial Audiences
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Hallie Harenski, SVP, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Crum & Forster
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Paul Leibowitz, President, Leibowitz
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John Paolini, Partner & Chief Creative Officer, Sullivan
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Jeff Wilson, SVP Marketing, Citizens Bank (former)
The panel explored the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and human creativity in financial services marketing, emphasizing that while AI is transforming how work gets done, it cannot replace what makes brands meaningful. In a category built on trust, panelists agreed that AI can generate options, accelerate workflows, and increase the velocity of content production, but it cannot create belief, emotional resonance, or cultural relevance. Those elements remain deeply human.
A central theme was that AI acts as a force multiplier rather than a substitute for creativity. It enables teams to ideate faster, test more variations, and personalize at scale. However, without clear brand conviction, AI risks producing generic, interchangeable outputs. As one perspective highlighted, AI can become “a hall of mirrors” for brands that lack a strong point of view, reinforcing sameness rather than differentiation.
Panelists stressed that human creativity is most valuable where it transforms complex financial concepts into compelling narratives that audiences trust and remember. Emotional storytelling, audience empathy, and strategic judgment are critical in a landscape where products often appear indistinguishable. Research cited in the discussion reinforced that emotionally driven creative can deliver significantly higher long-term ROI, underscoring the continued importance of human insight.
The conversation also highlighted new skill requirements. Marketers must now combine creativity with critical thinking, prompt engineering, and cross-functional collaboration across data, media, and creative teams. Success depends on balancing speed with originality, and efficiency with effectiveness.
Ultimately, the panel concluded that the future of marketing is not about producing more content faster, but about achieving narrative clarity and authenticity. Financial brands that pair AI’s capabilities with strong human-led storytelling will not only navigate this shift but define it.
PRESENTATION
The Health-Wealth Connection: Unlocking Financial Wellness as a Growth Engine for Financial Services
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Kaitlyn Thompson, VP Brand Strategy, MERGE
MERGE's presentation featured insights from proprietary research, which identifies financial wellness as a key contributor to whole-person wellness. The research found that financial control is a key driver in unlocking positive financial behaviors and overall financial wellness. For financial services marketers, this highlights a major opportunity to shift from promoting products to offering the infrastructure for control. By building contextually aware experiences that meet latent demand for structure and clarity, financial services brands can become true partners to their audiences. Wellness is no longer a message: It is the operating system necessary to drive financial control, financial wellness, and ultimately engagement with audiences. For the full report or for questions contact: Kaitlyn Thompson, VP Brand Strategy, kthompson@mergeworld.com.
PANEL: One Team: Marketing & Sales Alignment in Financial
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John Aguilar, SVP Head of U.S. Intermediary Marketing, Neuberger Berman
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Jason Farago, Global Head, Insurance Asset Management Marketing & Comms,
& Latin America Marketing, DWS Group -
Kerri Murtha, Managing Director, Head of Americas Client, Marketing, Nuveen, a TIAA company
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Elaine Villas-Obusan, Exec Director, Head of Americas Channel Marketing, UBS Asset Management
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Paul Zetti, EVP, Head of Global Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer, Cohen & Steers
The panel discussion focused on what true alignment between marketing and sales looks like, particularly within financial organizations, and why it remains difficult to sustain. Panelists agreed that alignment is not a one-time initiative but an ongoing operating model in which both teams function as a unified revenue system. This includes sharing a common revenue goal, defining the ideal customer profile together, and maintaining consistent messaging and qualification standards.
A key theme was visibility. Panelists emphasized that alignment is strongest when it shows up in weekly planning sessions, shared dashboards, and joint pipeline reviews. Rather than working in isolation, marketing and sales must evaluate performance together to understand which campaigns generate real opportunities and which messages resonate with buyers.
Despite progress in tools and integration, friction still exists, particularly around lead quality and definitions. Several panelists noted that disagreements over what constitutes a marketing-qualified or sales-qualified lead can disrupt the handoff process. While shared KPIs and service-level agreements have improved this, gaps persist when teams rely on separate systems or metrics.
Data integrity and trust were also highlighted as critical. Panelists stressed the importance of a single source of truth, standardized lifecycle stages, and structured handoff processes with clear rules and feedback loops. Without this, neither team can confidently act on the data.
The conversation also addressed the relationship between brand and demand. Panelists rejected the idea that brand building competes with short-term sales, instead framing it as essential to long-term demand creation and credibility.
Finally, the discussion underscored culture and incentives as decisive factors. Alignment requires leadership support, shared accountability, and compensation tied to common outcomes such as revenue, pipeline quality, and customer experience. The consensus: real alignment drives measurable impact, including higher conversion rates and faster sales cycles.
PRESENTATION: Annual FA Analysis: An Evolving Portrait of The Financial Advisor
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Brittany Hunley, Executive Director, Strategy & Insights, Ptarmigan Media
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Scott Sidhu, Associate Director, Strategy and Insights, Ptarmigan Media
Financial marketing is no longer defined by rates, products, or channels alone; it is shaped by clarity, confidence, and speed. As AI has made “good enough” content widely available, differentiation now depends on brand trust and meaningful engagement. Consumers expect personalized, immediate, and easy-to-understand financial experiences, especially at the critical moment of decision. This shift is driven in part by Gen Z and millennials, who are active financial participants rather than passive audiences. They are mobile-first, pragmatic, and value transparency, flexibility, and guidance that respects both their goals and uncertainties.
At the same time, personalization must go beyond basic targeting. Financial institutions must deliver timely, relevant interactions across onboarding, content, service, and lifecycle communications. Trust is no longer a tagline but a core business driver, reinforced through clear messaging, responsible data use, and transparent practices. AI plays a key role by enabling better segmentation, predictive insights, and scalable personalization, but it must be guided by human judgment to avoid creating noise. Ultimately, success depends on combining data, creativity, and credibility while measuring outcomes like trust, retention, and long-term customer value.
PANEL
New Face of Media & Content: Connecting with Financial Audiences Today & Tomorrow
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Amy Appicelli, MD, Head of Marketing, Americas, EQT Group
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Scott Anderson, Senior Vice President Marketing, Alger
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Doug Hensey, SVP, US Head, Financial Communications, Cognito
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Daniel Kaepplinger, Vice President, Client Integration, Fundamental Media
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Jeremy Rudolph, General Manager - Financial Services, Banking & Insurance, Goldcast
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Ryan Stone, Manager, Digital Content, Harding Loevner
The panel discussion explored how artificial intelligence, shifting audience behavior, and evolving media ecosystems are reshaping financial marketing. A central theme was uncertainty: while AI is expected to significantly impact day-to-day work and long-term career paths, panelists emphasized that the timing remains unclear. Whether disruption will be immediate or gradual continues to be a key question for professionals navigating this transition.
The panel discussion explored how artificial intelligence, shifting audience behavior, and evolving media ecosystems are reshaping financial marketing. A central theme was uncertainty: while AI is expected to significantly impact day-to-day work and long-term career paths, panelists emphasized that the timing remains unclear. Whether disruption will be immediate or gradual continues to be a key question for professionals navigating this transition.
At the same time, attention has become one of the scarcest resources. Panelists noted that shrinking attention spans and constant multitasking have made it increasingly difficult for brands to break through. As a result, content must be both concise and compelling, with equal emphasis placed on the credibility of the messenger delivering it.
Audience behavior has fundamentally changed. Financial consumers now act as active researchers, discovering content across a fragmented mix of platforms including search engines, social media, AI-driven tools, and specialized financial networks. This shift requires marketers to move away from volume-based strategies and toward approaches grounded in trust, education, and precision.
An omnichannel media strategy was identified as essential. By aligning paid, owned, and earned media, brands can create a cohesive experience that meets audiences wherever they are. Content formats such as short-form video, webinars, podcasts, and infographics are proving effective in simplifying complex topics while maintaining authority. Panelists also highlighted the importance of balancing personalization with privacy, using first-party data and transparent value exchange to build trust. Measurement is evolving as well, with success increasingly tied to business outcomes like customer growth and retention rather than simple engagement metrics.
Ultimately, the discussion underscored a critical gap: many brands still communicate from their own perspective rather than addressing real audience needs. As AI-driven discovery grows, success will depend on delivering relevant, human-centered content in an increasingly complex digital landscape.
ACTION TO CONSIDER
Based on sentiments expressed in this forum, Gramercy Institute recommends that financial firms and agencies, alike, should consider the following action steps to enhance marketing performance across the enterprise:
1. Elevate brand from messaging to operating system by aligning it with product, client experience, and compliance. Define a clear point of view and ensure it shows up consistently across every touchpoint, especially during moments of uncertainty when trust is most tested.
2. Treat trust as a measurable KPI by linking it to conversion rates, retention, and lifetime value. Build dashboards that connect brand activity to pipeline quality, and use transparent data practices to reinforce credibility with increasingly skeptical audiences.
3. Move beyond static segmentation to real-time, lifecycle personalization. Use AI to deliver context-aware content across onboarding, service, and engagement, but apply human oversight to ensure relevance, clarity, and emotional resonance.
4. Differentiate through human-led storytelling, not content volume. Use AI to scale production and testing, but invest in creative strategy that simplifies complex financial topics and builds emotional connection, particularly for younger, mobile-first investors.
5. Reposition offerings around financial wellness by helping clients gain a sense of control. Create tools, content, and experiences that guide better decisions, shifting the brand from product provider to trusted partner.
6. Operationalize marketing and sales alignment with shared KPIs, unified data, and regular pipeline reviews. Establish a single source of truth and clear lead definitions to improve conversion rates and accelerate revenue growth.
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