NB: Confidentiality agreements prevent us from naming this client.

Brief

"Develop a fresh online brand identity and a microsite for our active trader segment."

Our client boasts one of the market-leading equities trading platforms for active traders. One of their strategic goals for 2008 was to extend this brand to include all of its active trader products and services.

The business was responsible for delivering some aggressive targets, including:

• The acquisition and cross-sell of a large number of active trader accounts across multiple asset classes
• Significant growth in alternative revenue sources, such as fee and subscription revenues from value-added services
• Increased average revenue per account

In December 2007 our client turned to us to help bring its revolutionary product to the broader market. We were asked to develop a fresh online brand identity and a microsite that would reflect this new identity and help the business drive revenue and brand recognition.

Strategy/Execution

By utilising a blend of rich media, arresting design and engaging content, we designed a microsite positioned the platform as the only choice for the serious active trader. Our approach to creating the microsite encompassed six key work streams.

Definition

Our involvement began with a discovery phase, which included:

• Definition of the microsite's business goals
• A full audit of existing sites
• Extensive use of the client's trading platform
• An analysis of competitor trading platforms
• Strategic analysis of the business requirements

Content strategy and delivery

We then devised and delivered a content strategy that was designed help the business achieve its targets by:

• Presenting the trading products, services and benefits in a persuasive way
• Making it easy for people to become clients
• Providing the educational tools and customer support necessary to give current and prospective clients the confidence to trade via the platform
• Retaining and engaging the current client base, as well as giving prospective clients an insight into the benefits of being a client

Information architecture

After developing a site map based on the content strategy, we worked closely with the client’s technical development team to define the microsite’s components and develop page template wireframes.

Brand identity and visual design

We began by designing a brand identity that reflected its evolution to a market-leading platform that offered everything the modern trader would need. We did this by drawing upon the design features employed by the client’s elite Wealth brand, to create a modern, aspirational and premium identity for the offering.

The microsite needed to deliver a new visual identity for the brand – one that differentiated it from the client’s retail brand, brought it into line with their Wealth brand, and made it look engaging and modern. We achieved this by using a number of design tactics, extending the Wealth colour palette, adopting glassy effects, a Windows Vista-inspired look and feel, and bold, dynamic homepage banners.

Build

We provided HTML/CSS coding, which was structured to facilitate easy migration to the standard CMS architecture and hosting environment at a later stage.

Community and banners

As well as our involvement in the microsite's launch phase, we proposed the introduction of strong community and syndication content in future releases to promote acquisition and cross-sell activity, increase average revenue per account and drive the growth of alternative revenue sources.

We have also developed a number of Flash and static banners to promote new products and services on both the microsite and external sites. This activity is likely to continue as the expansion of the brand proceeds and new products are incorporated.

Results

The new brand identity and microsite were launched in March 2008. They formed the first significant steps towards repositioning the brand across all channels and drawing in a broader base of active traders.