CFA Institute

Challenge

CFA Institute, the global association for investment management professionals, seeks to promote the highest standards of ethics, education, and professional excellence for the ultimate benefit of society. Living was tasked with building the visibility of the CEO & President through LinkedIn & X, with campaign messaging that underpinned the values of this membership organisation.

The objective was to amplify the CFA Institute-led conversation about important issues that affect investment management, thereby bolstering the relevance of its voice with industry, regulatory, and government peers, while increasing the attractiveness of its charter to new candidates.

Solution

With a new first-person bio that we ‘lightened, brightened and tightened’ for the CEO Margaret Franklin, we created a two-fold content strategy. First, we built an editorial calendar comprising key messages from her past and upcoming  presentations, allowing us to draft social media posts that would drive conversation and engagement, globally.

Next, we emphasised the use of video in her feeds, to ensure greater engagement across audience stakeholders. We scripted, staged and directed filmed interview sessions, which resulted in dozens of short-form videos, which we edited into cohesive and powerful statements that drove the overall themes of the CFA Institute mission. We also furthered the messaging by composing the accompanying text for each post. All posts, video and static, were easily identifiable by the bespoke graphics we created (in line with brand guidelines).

In 2020 the pandemic curtailed our plans for in-person video shoots, we pivoted and utilised recorded footage from virtual events and new interviews shot remotely. Since then we have continued to provide a steady stream of social media content, ensuring that Margaret Franklin and CFA Institute maintained the consistent voice and messaging of the leadership role they play in the investment industry.

Result

By proactively pushing individual messaging onto LinkedIn and X with highly engaging content, we helped to cement Margaret Franklin’s role as an industry influencer – a go-to person for peers in the industry as well as the financial press – while initiating new meaningful relationships with connections and followers, facilitated by personal online conversations.

By March 2024, the number of Margaret Franklin’s followers on LinkedIn exceeded 65,000, representing a 1,700% increase since our campaign began in November 2019.

At the end of November 2020 and 2023, LinkedIn announced its list of ‘Top Voices’ – those business influencers whose social media presence made a difference. We’re proud to say Margaret Franklin was named to the list for the Finance & Economy category. 

Our work has also been recognised by the Financial Communications Society in North America, winning prestigious FCS Portfolio Awards in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 for the best organic social media campaign.