FINANCIAL GROUP TAKES NEW NAME, WILL INCREASE AD SPEND
By Adnews Staff
Toronto-based INVESCO Funds Group (Canada) has changed its name and plans to increase its ad spend over the next five years to promote the company, president and CEO Lou Voticky told Adnews yesterday. The independent asset management company is now known as AIM Funds Group Canada Inc. The name was changed because its parent company, UK-based INVESCO PLC, and Houston-based AIM Management Group merged last February. The parent company's name was changed to AMVESCAP plc. "We changed the name of the Canadian company because it was both advantageous and it made good business sense to align with AIM, the retail arm of AMVESCAP," Voticky says in a release. AIM in Canada will launch a campaign in September to promote its new name. The company is still working out the details of the campaign, but it is considering diversifying the media it uses. In the past, it has used print ads in Investment Executive, The Globe and Mail and The Financial Post. It may begin using TV. AIM will use U.S. creative for its campaigns and hire media buying companies on a project basis to handle Canadian media buys, Voticky said. Last year, AIM spent $982,000 on advertising, but plans to increase this figure "significantly."