How the largest Ponzi scheme used good marketing

Bernard Madoff…more like Bernard Made-off…

For those of you in a cave, please read this article. Bernard Madoff managed a large investment firm and had a corrupt business operation on the 17th floor utilizing the oldest scam in the book…a Ponzi scheme. So how was this good marketing?

Branding

A huge, beautiful building in Manhatten. Name recognition. An elite status. Wealthy clientele. A history of taking care of employees. A high-end investment firm. A massively corrupt business operation.

By establishing brand recognition and a perception of quality, the folks that were scammed out of BILLIONS of dollars never saw it coming. The faithful, hard-working employees didn’t even see it coming. By having an established brand, the con of the century happened and there aren’t many stories of whistle-blowers, or folks that knew what was going on (yet at least), it happened in the middle of the night for all we know.

So how can we take a bad use of good marketing and spin it on its head?

Apply the same concepts of branding, but provide a great product or service for your customers. Find your core competency, whether it is offering the best service, the lowest price, the highest quality product, the most accurate blood pressure devices, or the most reliable customer service. Stick to that core competency! Your messaging and strategy is developed around your competency and should support it in every way. Bernard Madoff knew this. He had an elite, high-end investment firm catering to the rich and famous and knew that if his brand was strong enough…he could gain trust and use it to his advantage.

And the word of the day is greed.

About the author

@cnmoody on Twitter and referred to as Moody by his friends. Chris Moody likes things. Some of these things include sarcasm, sports, social media, his wife and occasionally writing in third person. If you made it this far, at least leave a comment.

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This entry was posted by Chris Moody on December 15, 2008 at 2:47 pm, and is filed under Branding, Featured, Marketing. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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Comments (6)

#1 written by Chris Moody
about 1 year ago

Victims Of Bernard Madoff’s Alleged Ponzi Scheme:

Fairfield Greenwich Group- $7.5 billion… firm statement
Banco Santander- $3.5 billion… El Pais
Kingate Management- $2.8 billion… Bloomerg News
Ascot Partners- $1.8 billion… Wall Street Journal
Benbassat & Cie- $935 million… Le Temps
Union Bancaire Privee- $846 million… Le Temps
Fix Asset Management- $400 million… firm statement
Pioneer Alternative Investments- $280 million… Bloomberg
Maxam Capital Management- $280 million… WSJ
EIM Group- $230 million… Le Temps
Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation- $145 million… Boston Globe
Royal Bank of Scotland- $601 million… Variety
Vincent Tchenguiz- $61 million… The Telegraph – Please refer to comment below
Banque Benedict Hentsch- $47.5 million… firm statement
Town of Fairfield, Conn.- $42 million… Associated Press
Reichmuth Matterhorn- $33 million… Le Temps
Bramdean Asset Management- $31 million… WSJ
Madoff Family Foundation- $19 million… WSJ
Richard Spring- $11 million… WSJ
Richard Roth- $10 million… FINalternatives
RObert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation- $8 million… Washington Post
Michael Roth- $7.5 million… FINalternatives
Chais Family Foundation- $7 million… WSJ
Julian J. Levitt Foundation- $6 million… WSJ
David Berger- $5 million… FINalternatives
Neue Privat Bank- $5 million… Bloomberg
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System- $5 million… statement
Ira Roth- $1 million… WSJ
Arnold and Joan Sinkin- $1 million… The Guardian
Steven Abbott- less than $1 million… WSJ
Access International- n/a
Banco Popolare- n/a
BNP Paribas- n/a
Norman Braman- n/a
Engelbardt family – n/a
Barbara Flood- n/a
Lautenberg Family Foundation- n/a
Loeb family – n/a
Nomura bank- n/a
Notz, Stucki & Cie- n/a
Optimal Investment Services- n/a
Palm Beach Country Club- n/a
Sterling Equities- n/a
Tremont Capital Management- n/a
Thyssen family- n/a
UniCredit- n/a
Lawrence Velvel- n/a
Wilpon family- n/a
Yeshiva University- n/a
Michael Roth- $7.5 million… FINalternatives
Richard Roth- $10 million… FINalternatives
David Berger- $5 million… FINalternatives
Barbara Flood- n/a
Arnold & Joan Sinkin- $1 million… Guardian
Royal Bank of Scotland- $113 million… Variety
The Engelbardt Family- n/a
Yeshiva University- n/a

from http://www.finalternatives.com

Please see the comments below as some of this information appears to be incorrect.
#2 written by marc
about 1 year ago

nice list — it is actually from http://www.finalternatives.com

http://www.finalternatives.com/node/6354
#3 written by Chris Moody
about 1 year ago

Thanks for that Marc!
#4 written by Sean Bellew
about 1 year ago

@Chris Moody
I should be grateful if you could correct the erroneous assertion that Vincent Tchenguiz has a possible loss of $61m as a result of Bernard Madoff’s alleged activities. This figure is incorrect on a number of levels and is being picked up from your website and repeated elsewhere.

Mr Tchenguiz has no direct exposure to the alleged Madoff scam. Elsina Ltd, whose ultimate beneficial owner is the Tchenguiz Family Trust, which is advised by Vincent Tchenguiz’s Consensus Business Group, has a 29.9% holding in Bramdean Alternatives Ltd (“Bramdean”. You list Bramdean’s possible loss separately and you are therefore double counting.

Bramdean announced on Friday 12th December that it “has two holdings that maintain trading accounts with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“Madoff”), Defender Ltd. and Rye Select Broad Market XL Portfolio Ltd., representing approximately 9.5% of” Bramdean’s net asset value as at 31st October 2008 (US$220,245,659).

Therefore Elsina Ltd is, arguably exposed to 29.9% of 9.5% of US$220,245,659 – which is $6,256,077. However, as one invests in the shares of a company, not in its net asset value, even this calculation is spurious.

Please amend your table accordingly.
#5 written by Chris Moody
about 1 year ago

/table amended

Thanks for that insight!
#6 written by Chris Moody
about 1 year ago

Madoff’s wife pulled out $15 million before his arrest

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