Family Bhive, the online community where wealthy can
meet and share their views, is two years’ old and has just
re-launched with a host of new features. Founder Caroline Garnham
explains to Nicholas Moody how the new-look website can spark
interaction between banks and potential clients.
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Many bankers, lawyers and accountants face the problem that they
know other intermediaries but can’t find those elusive private
clients to pitch to.
Social media website Family Bhive aims to solve this conundrum
by creating an online community where the high net worth can meet
and interact with wealth managers.
Founder Caroline Garnham explains the initiative.
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Nicholas
Moody (NM): Why was the Family Bhive website
re-launched?
Caroline Garnham
(CG): You have to create a platform where the ultra high
net worth (UHNW) community wants to come, [whether it is for]
leisure, luxury or philanthropy – but where do you break into this
circle?
We started in the wealth management
industry and got together an advisory board and a nucleus of
corporate members, just to get it going.
The new website is closer to the
original idea with the strapline ‘be connected’.
The feedback was that 92% of
individuals liked reading articles written by experts. UHNW also
love the idea that Family Bhive will be a corporate hospitality
exchange.
So, if you have C Hoare & Co or
PricewaterhouseCoopers putting on events, then they quite like the
idea of going along to the events that these organisations put on,
even if they are not their clients. Family Bhive is a wonderful
place for corporate members to showcase its expertise.
Corporate members, on the leisure
luxury side, are less keen to write articles.
They want members to have access to
an online shopping trolley. As a result, we are going straight to
the wholesaler, and asking for a discount that would otherwise go
to the retailer, so that we can pass that discount to the client.
Both individuals and corporate members can buy on Family Bhive.
[An individual] can also use their
discount to donate to charity. On Amazon, it remembers what you
have bought and will suggest something else to buy. Family Bhive is
the same, suggesting items and articles that might interest a
person.
NM: How much does it cost for people to be an individual
member?
CG: There are four
wealth tiers: family members, which are open to the public; the
amber bracket, which is above £5m ($7.9m); jade, which is above
£20m; and the jet bracket for those individuals worth £100m.
The encouragement for a member to
have a professional verify that they are in a particular band is
that they get an invitation to special exclusive events.
NM: What is the cost of
corporate subscriptions for Family Bhive?
CG: For industries
that want to give their expert opinions, membership fees depend on
how much exposure they want, and across how many sectors and target
markets.
The basic fee is £10,000 per annum
for membership to Family Bhive to put up as many articles as an
industry player wants in their particular segment.
NM: Philanthropy seems to be a
strong theme running through Family Bhive. Why is
this?
CG: We are like a
train and we want the leading philanthropists on the train. We want
to help charities get to their audience, but on the way to do so
they have to provide something exclusive.
This is what the community wants;
they want to be treated specially.
NM: How does Family Bhive
ensure data security?
CG: We will be
investing heavily each year on state-of-the-art protection and
their personal details will not be held on the server. People who
hack the site will not be able to find their contact details.
NM: How can Family Bhive help
private banks?
CG: We can show
more than an advertisement. We have proof that whenever you have
articles up [on the website] coupled with an event face-to-face,
this creates client relationships.
What we want to do with affinity
marketing is tell our private banks what their target market is
doing.
So for instance, if they want to
make a special effort on Generation Y, or women, we can track what
the target market is doing.
NM: What is Family Bhive’s
current business strategy?
CG: We are now
targeting the luxury lifestyle and philanthropic sectors, and this
will need careful managing to ensure we bring on board the right
companies offering exclusive deals and invites to ‘must attend’
events.
By the middle of 2012 I’ll be
putting in place a strategy to expand the UK Family Bhive business
model to Zurich, Monaco, Dubai, Hong Kong and the US.
