Exodus from Fidelity rolls on as advertising chief plans to step down

Fidelity Investments advertising chief Claire Huang plans to leave the company, executives said yesterday, the latest high-level departure at the Boston mutual fund giant and one that signals a major shift in its marketing strategy.

The change comes amid a broad reorganization begun by Fidelity's new president, Rodger Lawson. In a statement yesterday, Lawson indicated the company will put more focus on specific funds and other products.

"Fidelity has wonderful investment and retirement solutions, and a wide array of products and services for investors. We want our communications to highlight these important solutions more directly in the future," Lawson said.

Huang plans to step down this year as executive vice president of marketing, said Fidelity spokesman Vincent Loporchio, a role that put her in charge of major initiatives like a 2005 television campaign featuring former Beatle Paul McCartney that targeted baby boomers.

The campaign was a critical hit, and Fidelity still uses bits of McCartney's music in TV spots that began running this year. But in other print advertising recently, Fidelity has more often touted the performance of specific mutual funds instead of broader lifestyle trends, said James Lowell, editor of the Fidelity Investor newsletter.

Lowell said the new ad focus and Huang's departure both seem in line with Lawson's organizational changes, which have put more sales and marketing power in the hands of Abigail Johnson, daughter of Fidelity's chairman Edward C. "Ned" Johnson III. Lawson has also appointed a new product marketing executive, Sanjiv Mirchandani.

The new team now will likely focus more on pushing specific funds, Lowell said, citing recent newspaper ads pointing up the returns of its Growth Discovery Fund, much as Fidelity did when Lawson previously was a company executive in the late 1980s.

Said Lowell, "I think with Lawson we'll see a return to focusing on the product and core message that will say, 'We wrote the book on core investing, and you ought to buy our products,' as opposed to hiring Paul McCartney to strike a few chords to fill a time slot."

Reached at her home, Huang confirmed her pending departure but referred other questions to Loporchio. "I have a wonderful relationship with Fidelity," she said.

Loporchio said Huang has agreed to stay on through year-end "to help as we transition her responsibilities to others."

Huang is among a host of senior company executives to leave Fidelity this year, most notably of whom was longtime chief operating officer Robert Reynolds, who stepped down abruptly in April, and former brokerage chief Ellyn McColgan, who quit in August after Lawson's arrival meant she no longer reported directly to Edward Johnson.

Word of Huang's departure also comes at an intriguing time, since she was scheduled to give a presentation today at a national advertising conference in Phoenix titled "Fidelity - Transforming a Business into a Brand."

A summary of the talk posted on the website sponsored by the Association of National Advertisers promised Huang would discuss how branding was shaped around Fidelity's various divisions, "as well as the bold new direction the company is pursuing" in coming years.

Huang's copresenter was to be Pam Hamlin, president and managing partner of Boston advertising agency Arnold Worldwide, Fidelity's longtime partner and creator of the McCartney spots.

A spokeswoman for Arnold, Meredith Vellines, said Hamlin and others would not comment for this article.

The leadership changes could mean a review of Fidelity's advertising contracts, said an executive at another ad agency, speaking on condition of anonymity because Huang's departure wasn't publicly disclosed.

Fidelity remains an Arnold client, Vellines said.

Ross Kerber can be reached at kerber@globe.com.