In most cities, corporate sponsorship is just part of the landscape. In St. Louis, it's becoming much more and much more visible. Today, I'm sitting down with Ron Kruszewski, the chairman and CEO of Stifel, to talk about his bold approach to patronage. Why he's investing so heavily in sports, the arts, and global competition, and what it all means for the future of St. Louis. I'm Craig Kaminer, and this is Sophisticated Living.
So, when you look at the Cardinals and the Blues, like these two iconic, strong brands, right? You're aligning Stifel with these great St. Louis traditions. Why?
Well, first of all, I love St. Louis. I didn't go to high school here, so everyone wants to know where did you go to high school? I'm not going to answer that question because I actually grew up in South Bend, Indiana. Got here through Chicago and Milwaukee. But, I've been here 28 years, and the thing that I noticed about the community, besides being just a great community, was how much it loves its sports and the iconic brands that the Cardinals and the Blues have, not just in St. Louis, but across the country. So, for us to associate with such quality organizations, not only in St. Louis, but when the Cardinals and the Blues travel, my friends will text me and say, 'Hey, didn't know you were involved with the Blues or Cardinals through our patch jerseys.' And so, it's not only a matter of civic pride, but it's good business.
Yeah, so were you always able to put a logo on a uniform? Is that a newer development?
A newer development. In fact, it was kind of controversial at first. I mean, people almost got mad at Stifel for being on either on the jersey or maybe the iconic Blue Note or the Cardinals. But, you'll know one of the things we did was, if you look, you will see that we didn't use our color or our logo. It's just Stifel either in Cardinal red or Blues blue that matches the uniform. And so, the fans have respected the fact that we've respected the uniform. And look, it's business. The Cardinals and the Blues, they need to compete, and other firms are raising revenue this way.
So, yeah, and it's not that it may be 3 or 4 years that you've been able to do that. Were there a lot of other companies, or more specifically financial companies, who wanted to have their name on the uniform, or was it something that you saw as a great opportunity?
Well, I think a little of both. I would like to think that, you know, other companies, when they've seen how it's improved our brand, and when you see that it really travels. For example, I'm not quite sure naming a stadium has the national impact as it does a team moving around to go into 32 baseball cities or hockey. I'll tell you where it's made a huge difference. So, it was on the Stifel US Ski Team. So, on that one, they actually came to me and said, 'Do you want to have a patch?' And I said, 'No.' And they said, 'What would you do?' I said, 'Well, now that you bring it up, I would rebrand the team instead of being the US Ski Team, let's make it the Stifel US Ski Team.' And they agreed, and that has been an unbelievable situation. Now, every company across the board, the Visas and the Toyotas and all of them that are involved, I think I got lightning in a bottle there.
I think so, too. I mean, when I see Mikaela standing at the top of a mountain getting ready to go, and it's Stifel right there, it's like it doesn't get much better than that when it comes to branding.
Well, it doesn't. And the way we do it is we celebrate the athletes, and we celebrate their characteristics of dedication and perseverance and everything it takes to be a world-class elite athlete like a Mikaela Shiffrin. And we did an ad called 'Being Mikaela Shiffrin.' And the whole ad's about her, and at the end it says, 'Stifel, where success meets success.' And people will say to me, 'Well, you don't even say what you do.' And I said, 'I don't have to. People Google when they see that.' And so, it's been a huge success.
Yeah, I think it's a brilliant initiative. And so, kind of switching from some of the sports to the Stifel Theatre, how did that come about, and kind of how are the arts, you know, a key cornerstone of the Stifel brand?
Well, it is a couple questions there. I mean, Stifel Theatre came about, it was the Peabody, and then Peabody did not renew, and we thought about it, and it just, we wanted to support downtown. I mean, we're having this interview. We're in my office down 501 North Broadway. I have an office in Frontenac that I can walk to. But, no, I come here every day because I believe in downtown St. Louis, and that was maybe the baseline of why we did Stifel Theatre.
You know, like 20 years ago, well, I moved here 40 years ago, but a financial institution would never be involved in this kind of thing. I mean, it would be like Coca-Cola or Budweiser or something like that. It's really cool to see this transition. And I think it really works. You know, at first I was like, 'Is anyone going to notice?' But, I think they do. And, you know, the other big institutions that everyone knows, I don't see them doing it.
You know, it's interesting. I have thought about this, all right? And you were not like a mass brand like Coca-Cola. They're fabulous, and we're not. So, we're not marketing that way in a traditional sense, Craig. But, I don't think in a traditional sense. What does this do? When you really think about it, do financial firms do this? No. But, guess what? People come to me and say, 'Oh, you're a creative firm.' Well, why do they think we're a creative firm? I push numbers around, you know? I can add numbers. I'm a numbers guy. I'm not, I'm boring, and I'm not creative, all right? But, when you associate with athletes and the arts and Dancing with the Stars and all of the things that we do, the backsplash to us is that, you know, we're a fun, which we are, creative, which we are, financial firm, which no one would associate fun and creative with financial firms. But, they do now.
