Rebranding a Financial Services Company

Rebranding should always have a vision, a strategy and a clear process. Without this, it could become a fruitless exercise that leaves you worse than when you started. It’s not just about changing the logo. It’s a process of reviewing every aspect of your business and being clear on what you want people to perceive your brand as and how it makes them feel. 

In this blog, I discuss the rebranding project that I recently undertook with an Aberdeen-based independent financial planner, Futura. The blog discussed the client’s challenges, my approach to tackling the challenge and the associates that I worked with to deliver the project to the highest standard.

Futura’s Main Challenges

Futura has over 20 years of history in the financial services industry. Designed in a newspaper style with no images, Futura felt that the website provided little emotional connection between its clients and its brand. Futura wanted to feature more engaging images of people – as the company deals with people at the core of its business.

The existing logo also needed a refresh and could more strongly represent the brand. The company wanted to separate the tag of ‘Futura Investments’ and be ‘Futura’. Clients who weren't interested in the investment element disregarded them and there was no way of explaining what they do to people who overlooked them. Futura’s area of focus were private and corporate clients. 

Futura’s colours were originally red and grey, typical for a finance firm in Aberdeen. The MD wanted something that would stand out, one that could be more personal and hold more human value. The company deals, among others, with HR professionals who want to see their staff in safe hands. It wasn’t enough to have this in writing – clients needed to feel it. Showing a happy, safe environment was key to driving an emotional connection.

The logo and corporate identity didn’t reflect sustainability, a new business value, and didn’t include the human element. Futura wanted to be supportive, someone to fight your corner and negotiate. The company values working hand in hand with their clients' needs. Their relationship with the client is the most important aspect, adapting to their needs relating to the human element. 

How Creative Communication Helped

Futura found me through a post I shared on LinkedIn about past client work. I met with Paul, the Managing Director. During the discussion, we identified a few things that needed to be done to update the Futura brand. They included:

· New logo design

· Refresh brand identity (corporate colours and typeface, tone of voice and key visuals)

· New website design and development

· Rewrite existing website content

· Create a corporate brochure (printed and digital)

· Create associated stationery (letterheaded paper and business cards) 

Some of the tasks mentioned above would require me to partner with other creative associates to deliver. I’ll talk more about that later. 

After a couple of meetings and a questionnaire I handed out, it was much clearer where the brand would go and the story behind the brand. I always start with the logo, so the next stage was to develop three logo drafts. Here’s a brief outline of how I approach brand development:

1. I review and agree the top three values with the client

2. I create three logos, each one takes a different value as its main focus

3. The client can then choose which one they prefer or fits best 

4. We decide on the brand and values to focus on

5. I create the corporate typeface, colour scheme and key visuals

For the logo, Futura went for interconnected letters, which show how the company works closely with clients. The logo has rounder edges and exudes more human emotion than the previous logo. The font was created from scratch using lower and upper case. Focusing on Futura without the investments tag meant that we could have a stronger, more recognisable brand.

Dark turquoise was the colour of choice. It’s more unusual for financial businesses and thus, it will help Futura stand out among its peers. The blue represents credibility, wealth and trust, and the green symbolises sustainability, nature and humanity. Merging these has created a much bolder colour for the Futura brand.

We didn’t retain any elements from the old Futura brand. This is unusual in most rebranding projects, but it could be a real game-changer for smaller brands. Larger companies may opt for small transitions. For example, changing brand colour and font but not all at once. This provides a smooth transition from the current brand to the new brand such that your existing and potential clients get used to it. 

How I worked with other creatives

One of my skills is designing a website in align with the brand that I’ve helped my client create. Visually, the website will represent the brand in all elements. 

I designed every page of the Futura website, so it was aligned with the branding and logo. The website developer then built the website and worked on the backend. Due to the complexity of the website in terms of add-ons, logins and custom design of pages, my experience is that this is the best way to get the expertise of the design and development world.

Another large part of a website is the content so that the messages and calls-to-action work well to attract and engage visitors. Content writers are thus very important in creating the right messages and the appropriate tone of voice. Therefore, I worked with content writers to ensure that the website adequately represented Futura’s key messages, products and services.

Overall, we had experts in their field coming together to create something unique for the client – each focusing on their niche. It’s not always possible to work like this but is the ideal scenario and is the best way to deliver high-quality branding to my clients.

The outcome of the project

Futura was very happy with the outcome. Paul, the MD liked that he dealt with one person as the focal point for the whole project. We were able to build a level of trust through good communication and listening skills. The extended creative team worked well together, sharing ideas and contributing to the project’s success. 

I approached Anja when I saw her eye-catching branding work on LinkedIn. I was looking for a single freelancer to rebrand my business as I wanted one go-to person to discuss everything instead of an agency with multiple contacts. Her hands-on face-to-face service was exactly what I was looking for.

Anja exceeded my expectations when redesigning Futura’s brand. Her focus on detail and her well-thought-out brand designs made it easy for me to choose the best brand design for Futura. For the Futura website, Anja put together a strong team to create a bespoke, state-of-the-art website. I'm delighted with the outcome.

Paul Shanahan, MD at Futura Investments

We launched the website and new brand design in good time following iterations and testing beforehand. The brochure was well-received and used at exhibitions since we developed it in April 2019. This was very helpful as they had tangible evidence of their new brand but were also able to go online and show their values from the very start. 

There are ongoing projects, they are creating new services and working strongly on their business at the moment. What my associates and I created is a good base for them to extend and shape Futura’s marketing future. 

If you're looking to create a new brand or you're an established business interested in rebranding, feel free to get in touch with me by emailing [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you!