Readers of the industry publication
InvestmentNews will soon be noticing a series of advertisements from
The Reserve Funds which congratulates other fund companies on the success of their funds. The ads also invite the readers to look at Reserve's own funds, in the same style category as the fund being congratulated.
The form of advertising would seem to raise some compliance questions, but Eric Lansky, the director of marketing for the New York-based Reserve Funds, foresees no problems. In his opinion, the ads are not drawing comparisons but simply congratulating his peers and drawing attention to successful funds.
Reserve Funds is launching the new campaign in order to draw attention, specifically from investment advisors, to its series of 6 equity funds, the oldest of which is the
Blue Chip Growth Fund, launched in 1994. Several of the the funds have had breakout performance of late, but with little notice from the retail press and the general public. The $6.5 billion fund company continues to mainly be known for starting the first money market fund in 1970.
The first four ads in what could be a series, depending on the response from the first set, call attention to the success of the
Baron Small Cap Fund and the
Invesco Blue Chip Growth Fund as well as
Warburg Pincus and
Janus funds. The ads specifically state that Reserve is not affiliated with the funds mentioned and that the ad is not a solicitation to buy the other company's funds, but it could be possible to infer some alliance between the fund companies if the fine print isn't read.
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