Global Financial Services

Corporate Communications, Media Relations and Executive Brand Building

Historical Program Overview
Louis Capital Markets (“LCM”) is a global independent agency, broker- dealer providing execution, value-added sales, trading and research services on a variety of Equity, Commodity, Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange products.

JMR was contracted in 2006 to build LCM’s brand in the U.S. At the onset, LCM was comprised of less than 10 staffers with one office on Wall Street. Over the next 2 years, through aggressive public relations, marketing and business development initiatives, LCM grew to become a leading, global broker-dealer with over 350 employees and offices in major financial hubs.

Our corporate communications strategy was focused on: 1) Increasing corporate and executive visibility; and, 2) Generating awareness of LCM’s trading and research platforms.

At the heart of our program, was corporate and executive brand building through media relations in national, financial and industry circles. From 2006-2008, we successfully established relationships with senior editors and key market reporters, resulting in a sweep of coverage in outlets including Associated Press, Barron’s, Bloomberg News, Bloomberg TV, BusinessWeek, CNBC, Dow Jones News, Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, Fox Busines Network, Investor’s Business Daily, Institutional Investor, The New York Times, Reuters News, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal, among others.

Program Evolution
In 2008, given LCM’s successful global expansion in its core markets (equities, fixed income and derivatives) and due to the Company’s planned expansion (commodities), we aggressively altered our campaign to position LCM in the energy, oil & gas, and metals sectors.

National and financial media outreach intensified, as did industry- specific campaigns focused on these verticals. In addition to media, our program evolved towards speaking engagements at leading industry events, as well as real-time issues commentary. Notable events included:

  • St. Petersburg International Economic Forum
  • Institute of Energy Economics
  • 13th Annual Washington Energy Policy Conference

Results
Media coverage that far exceeded expectations!

Throughout the campaign, we generated news coverage on a weekly basis in both domestic and international business and financial outlets. We secured regular broadcast appearances on Bloomberg TV, Canadian Business Network, CNBC, Fox Business Network, Marketwatch TV, and others.

We had similar results with national and international print media, particularly the top financial publications and periodicals, as well as regional outlets, both in print and online form. Part of our strategy was to leverage wire services to reach the most diverse audience.

  • Wire Services: AFX (Asia, Europe and U.S.), Associated Press, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Reuters.
  • National Print/Online Media: Financial Times, Investor’s Business Daily, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal Europe, Wall Street Journal Asia, The Global & Mail, The Guardian, International Herald Tribune, Times of London, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, etc.
  • Financial/Trade Media: Issues based commentary/feature stories in Barron’s, Institutional Investor, Business Week, Marketwatch.com, TheStreet.com, StockMasters.com, The Daily Deal, Derivatives Week, M&A Journal, M&A Report, Hedge World, Fortune, Forbes, Wall Street & Technology, Active Investor, Advanced Trading Magazine, Investment Week, The Hedge Fund Journal and more.

As part of the executive branding campaigns for Robert van Batenburg, LCM’s Head of Global Research and Ed Morse, Chief Economist, we secured a new segment of coverage in key industry trades as well as continuous coverage in many of the outlets above, but editors and journalists focused on energy, oil & gas.

  • Energy, Oil and Gas Trades: Coal Outlook, Diesel Fuel News, Earth Magazine, Energy Economist, Energy Risk Magazine, Energy Trader, Gas Daily, International Gas Report, Metals Today, Oil Preview, Middle East Economic Review, Platts Commodities News, Platts Energy Week, Platts Oil & Gas, and Platts Metals Report, among others.
  • Byline articles secured and placed in Financial Times, Foreign Affairs Magazine and The New Republic.