Apollo's WSJ Activation Presents New Investment Playbook

A new campaign from Apollo promoted through a Wall Street Journal cover wrap directs readers via QR code to a landing page titled "What If the World Doesn't Work the Way You Think It Does?" The page challenges the durability of the current portfolio thinking and makes the case for private credit and alternatives as a structural part of modern portfolio construction. The wrap and long-scroll page sends a 100 dollar bill and a portion of the text through a shredder. 

The campaign ran soon after Apollo co-president John Zito made news for remarks at a private UBS client gathering, first reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by CNBC.

Zito said private equity marks on software holdings were not reflecting reality and predicted recovery rates as low as 20 to 40 cents on the dollar for distressed software loans. The remarks landed as retail investors had pulled roughly $10 billion from private credit funds in Q1 and JPMorgan had begun marking down software loan values. Apollo has noted that software represents less than 2% of its total assets under management and that it holds no private equity stakes in software companies.

For financial marketers, it is a great case study in how a firm can use the momentum of a moment to sharpen its positioning.

Full story: - WSJ - CNBC - Apollo