tml Partners draws on their extensive network of Board level marketing consultants to support leading Private Equity recruitment specialist, Finatal, to relaunch their brand, supporting both domestic and international growth goals.
Finatal is a dynamic and high growth search firm that places professionals in private equity funds and their portfolio companies. Placements range from CFOs and M&A professionals through to talent in transformation and data analytics. They pride themselves on the pace and precision of their service and position themselves as a challenger brand, a counterpoint to the traditional talent business services in the private capital sector.
The Challenge
After seven years of rapid growth, Finatal were preparing for the next stage of acceleration and geographic expansion, while also increasing their penetration in the UK private capital recruitment market. Traditionally, this process is led through the deployment of more consultants engaging with Value Creation teams and the leaders of portfolio businesses. Finatal wanted to take a different tack; to super-charge their growth and to signal their confident market position through their brand and marketing. They had already embarked on a significant combined website and brand review project but the pace and incisiveness which the leadership needed was not being delivered by this combined approach. Paul Blant, Managing Director of Finatal, approached tml Partners to undertake an audit of the firm’s marketing capabilities and support the leadership team to reset the brand project.
The Outcome
David Price from tml Partners introduced Finatal to Tom Christie-Miller, a Board level B2B marketer. Tom’s background includes B2B and professional services experience, international brand consultancy and significant time as a senior marketing executive in B2C organisations, including Disney. He specialises in supporting fast-growth businesses to maximise their distinct market value through brand and marketing. David knew this skillset would be particularly appealing to Finatal. Tom’s blend of commercial rigour, creativity and ability to bring cross-sector insights would be invaluable as the business prepared for its next phase of development.
Working with the Finatal leadership, Tom immediately focused on the brand project. Identifying the key blockages to progress, he proposed a new approach. Within 36 hours he had an agreed shortlist of four candidate agencies. The selected agency was fully engaged within 10 days. Working on a fractional basis, Tom supported the business to project manage the rebrand. The result was a repositioned brand that was fully aligned to the Finatal leadership’s expectations, reflected the culture of the business and allowed the parallel web project to refocus on design, function and delivery. Overall, the refocused brand project, working at the pace and intensity of the Finatal team, has reflected the growing maturity of the business and helped prepare the firm for international expansion.
Tom Christie-Miller commented: “Finatal works fast. As a fractional resource with a proven supplier network, I was able to move at the pace that the organisation needed. That was a real value-add for Finatal. They put a great premium on responsiveness, quality and decisiveness. The project had to balance the almost iconoclastic entrepreneurial drive of the leadership team, while also signifying a new level of maturity in the business. The brand solution was delivered on time and successfully reset the expression of the business, while protecting the existing Finatal brand equity. All supporting a new central proposition: “Perfectly Placed”. It was a great pleasure to be able to continue to work with Finatal after the rebrand, to scope the next stage of its marketing and to guide the team as they refined their UK and international Go-To-Market plans.”
About tml Partners
tml Partners is an international executive marketing recruitment firm specialising in senior marketing appointments up to board level, across marketing, business development and corporate communications.
David Price heads up the firm’s flagship Services and Technology practice, working with professional services and technology organisations globally to source the best possible marketing talent to fuel growth and drive brand awareness.
To learn more, please get in touch directly at david.price@tmlpartners.com
