PEOPLE - Standing Guard

In June, Sentinel Asset Management rolled out a new branding campaign that eliminated the 20-year-old logo featuring a musket-toting Revolutionary Warera soldier standing guard, presumably over investors’ money.

In June, Sentinel Asset Management rolled out a new branding campaign that eliminated the 20-year-old logo featuring a musket-toting Revolutionary Warera soldier standing guard, presumably over investors’ money. In its place: a representation of the Periodic Table of the Elements to accompany the firm’s new tag line, “The Essential Elements of Investing.” Soon the company’s phones began ringing off the hook. Triumph? Not exactly: It turns out hundreds of nervous investors had mistaken the $5.5 billion-in-assets Montpelier, Vermont, mutual fund outfit for Sentinel Management Co. in Northbrook, Illinois, which manages short-term cash for hedge funds and futures brokers. In August it froze client redemptions; the SEC has since filed civil fraud charges against the firm, which is in Chapter 11. The Vermont firm’s new marketing challenge? “It’s about telling clients, ‘We’re the different Sentinel,’” says Christian Thwaites, president and CEO.

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