Publicis.Poke declares ‘Change is Inevitable’ in work for Ninety One

Publicis•Poke has launched a new campaign for Anglo-South African investment manager Ninety One.

The work, titled "Change is Inevitable", aims to establish the brand as a modern and relevant partner for British financial intermediaries seeking to navigate times of change.

"Change is Inevitable" is the brand's first campaign targeting a UK financial audience and builds on Ninety One’s long-term brand platform ‘Investing for a world of change’, established in 2020.

The campaign, which runs until March 2022, leads with a series of five print executions featuring scenes juxtaposed with incongruous captions to show the humble origins of some of the world’s most significant and influential cultural changes.

The scenes show how renewable energy vehicles before 1996 were horses, how social networking used to be clubbing in 1996, how libraries were our search engines in 1992, and whilst the significant changes that the scenarios heralded may seem obvious and inevitable, the associated investment opportunities they represent are not.

In March 2020, Ninety One demerged from Investec Group, establishing themselves as an independent entity under the brand platform "Investing for a world of change", and launched the campaign "The Times That Made Us, Named Us", which were both developed by Publicis•Poke.

The investment manager’s new name and positioning reflect its heritage and expertise, having been established in South Africa in 1991. Since 2019, integrated creative agency Publicis•Poke has acted as Ninety One’s global brand strategy partner.

Courtney Waterman, head of creative marketing, Ninety One, said: “Change is constant, and is the only thing that is certain. This campaign challenges how we perceive change and the opportunities that can be born from it, in a thought-provoking and intelligent way”.

Dave Monk, executive creative director, Publicis•Poke, said: “If you’ve come from great change as Ninety One has, you understand how change works. 'Change is inevitable’ is a campaign that builds on the existing Ninety One foundations. It’s an idea that is not only timely, but timeless, lending itself to change and to evolve over time”.

The print executions will appear in both national and trade press such as the Financial Times, The Economist and Bloomberg. The print media will also be supported by a film of the same scenes, iterations of which will be served across VOD, social and display. Finance sector specialist media agency Fundamental is handling the media planning and buying for the campaign.