If you stumble upon a group of otherwise professional-looking people wearing trucker hats with “Your TPA Sucks” written across the front, you haven’t inadvertently crashed an event for a certain presidential candidate. It’s all part of the unconventional branding for Plan Design Consultants, an independent retirement firm celebrating its 42nd year in business.
Some might think that longevity means a company culture and identity that’s staid, conservative and therefore boring. They’d be wrong.
The first thing to note is that the face of the company, CEO J.D. Carlson, is buried beneath a bushy beard and blonde locks that make him stand out (significantly) in the suit-and-tie, business card bearing atmosphere of many an industry conference. He looks like he just came from the beach, and being an avid surfer from the California coast, chances are he has.
“My father started the company in 1975 and was incredibly successful,” Carlson enthusiastically explained from the floor of Excel 401(k): The Advisors’ Conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning. “When I took over, it was increasingly commoditized. We looked around and said, ‘What makes us different?’ The answer was ‘us;’ our personality and the relationships we’ve developed.”
Down came the cubicle walls at the home office to foster better views of the world outside, with and open floor plan and surfboards (which are not decorations) that sit in the front reception area. Carlson’s LinkedIn picture appears to be, hopefully, a humorous fake mugshot.
As if that isn’t enough, he turned up with his crew at the Vegas conference sporting cameras, couches and lighting equipment to build an impromptu set for his popular Retireholi(k)s web cast, making him all that much harder to miss.
Retireholi(k)s, with it’s logo that looks suspiciously like Coors Light, is intended for 401(k) advisors and other industry professionals. It’s billed as “a slightly inebriated insiders [sic] look into the retirement plan industry” with debates, conversations, arguments (think a cross between Howard Stern and Dan Patrick in what looks to be a fraternity house setting, complete with beer) and includes such features as the “Quiz of Death.”
It’s professionally produced – or at least looks that way – and while everyone thinks their particular industry web cast and You Tube videos are informative and entertaining, Retireholi(k)s’ actually are (really).
“We have fun, and there are high jinks and if someone gets the answer to a question wrong they might have to chug a Smirnoff Ice or something like that, but the conversations themselves are serious.”
Indeed, Carlson sends out topics to the other participants from the firm in the days before filming to ensure everyone does the research and is properly prepared. In other words, the conversation might appear somewhat improvised and free form, but the underlying expertise is decidedly not, which gets to a larger point about the firm in general.
“It’s a place we come to work at five days each week, so we want to have fun and be ourselves, but we are very good at what we do and are deadly serious about the 401(k) business,” he said. “It’s our deep understanding of all areas of retirement plans combined with a constant commitment to customer service that sets us apart,” although the hair and high jinks certainly help.
“None of this would matter or resonate the way it has if we didn’t back it up with the underlying expertise,” Carlson added.
One inevitable question; has he been able to monetize Retireholi(k)s?
“We have advisors sending us cases of beer,” he said, which made us think he misunderstood the question until he continued, “they want to work with us and seek us out after watching an episode.”
For Carlson and the firm, fun equals connection.
“We used to send this form letter to tell clients that told them they failed an ADP test, and it said “failed” in bold, scary-looking, block letters. But would you speak to them in the same manner? Of course not; you’d use humor and help. You’d be empathetic and make them feel more at ease about what’s next in the process, so we made sure all are forms and letters reflect that.
“At the end of the day, we’re not intentionally trying to shake things up,” he concluded. “We’re just trying to be ourselves and have fun.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
I got to meet JD at the Excel401k Conference in Las Vegas on Monday. He is a great guy and stands out in the crowd by being different and thinking outside the box.
Thanks Gil Castillo. I appreciate the kind words. Can you believe it? The one conference that I don’t bring my treasured beard oil/lotion and my beard gets called BUSHY! 🙂 – J.D.