Birdie

Investment products should be promoted by experts not celebrities.

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Issue № 134 | London, Sunday 4 May 2025

Read on to learn why:

① Celebrity cachet should be matched with deep expertise.

② A celebrity is only a marketing asset if content, culture and continuity align.

③ Private equity is emerging as compelling, risky, and more accessible than ever.

④ It’s junior bankers, not marketers, who should fear AI most.

⑤ Journalism without fear or favour is more vital than ever.

⑥ Wall Street’s most unusual remote work experiment is over and discredited.

⑦ Stablecoins are about to explode.

What's new

Pro-golfer Rory McIlroy is getting into private equity, reports The New York Times.

In short:

• “Fresh off finally securing a career grand slam with a thrilling win at the Masters, Rory McIlroy, the world’s second-ranked golfer, is rounding out another corner of his life: investing. Mr. McIlroy’s investment firm, Symphony Ventures, is teaming up with the private equity firm TPG to start TPG Sports, an investment fund that will place bets on businesses across the sports industry.”
• “Mr. McIlroy’s increasing immersion in business is not uncommon among golf’s greats; Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus have all built big business portfolios around golf and beyond. But his partnership with TPG comes as record dollars are flowing into sports. Competition by media companies over premium live content has driven up valuations of traditional teams and created demand for new ones.”
• “TPG manages more than $200 billion in assets and has extensive experience in the media industry, which is increasingly entwined with sports. Among those deals are DirecTV and Creative Artists Agency. Mr. McIlroy brings a different sort of experience. As a former member of the influential PGA Tour Policy Board, he was briefly on the front lines of deal talks between the PGA Tour and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. He stepped down in 2023 to focus on golf, his family — and his growing investing portfolio.”

Why it matters

McIlroy’s victory at the Masters and the news of his partnership with TPG came the same week that, here in the UK, the Treasury Committee held a session on the role and regulation of online financial influencers, or finfluencers. The two stories felt incongruous to me. While the latter illustrates the dangers of taking investment advice from celebrities, the former matters as an example of specialist knowledge being applied to investment decisions.

① There’s no suggestion that TPG was swayed by McIlroy’s celebrity - nor indeed that its investors will be. But there’s also no denying its allure. Having a professional golfer of his fame advising on investments in the sports industry carries a certain cachet. And that’s okay because his celebrity is matched by his deep and niche expertise.

This is in sharp contrast to the finfluencer phenomenon. As these self-declared celebrities continue to gain traction, the FCA is taking notice and ramping up its efforts to protect investors. In July 2023, it announced plans to revamp its social media guidance, updating rules to reflect modern digital marketing trends. It has also interviewed 20 finfluencers under caution for potentially breaching financial promotion rules. Investment Week reports that “the watchdog issued 38 alerts regarding illegal financial promotions and took action against more than 10,000 misleading adverts in 2023, a sharp increase from 8,500 in 2022.”

What to do about it

Take action

② A celebrity on your bench - regardless of the field in which they made their name - can be a powerful marketing asset. Your challenge is to ensure that they are credible on that bench, that they’re there because of their expertise. When evaluating partnerships consider:

1. Content: Is their specialist knowledge and experience the right fit for your product or investment strategy? Will they add or detract from your focus?
2. Culture: Are they aligned with your firm’s values and culture?
3. Continuity: Will this make sense for the long-term? Avoid the appearance of short-lived gimmicks.

Get help

Two ways I can help you: 1) hire me as a full-time member of your team; or 2) use InMarketing, an advisory service for senior leadership teams in finance and tech.

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More...

To learn why:

③ Private equity is emerging as compelling, risky, and more accessible than ever.

④ It’s junior bankers, not marketers, who should fear AI most.

⑤ Journalism without fear or favour is more vital than ever.

⑥ Wall Street’s most unusual remote work experiment is over and discredited.

⑦ Stablecoins are about to explode.

Visit InMarketing This Week for the rest of this issue >

About

Written for senior leadership teams in financial services and technology, InMarketing This Week is a showcase for news likely to impact you - delivered with insight on why it matters and ideas on what to do about it. It’s published every Sunday at six to give you a head start on the week. Read extracts here on LinkedIn, or subscribe to have each full issue delivered straight to your inbox, before it's available anywhere else.