Helping 100 million people become financially secure
Redington Brand Strategy, Design & Roll-out
“CreateFuture are like world class musicians, or Michelin starred chefs. The magic doesn’t just happen. There’s hard work and attention to detail. We’re delighted by the results.”
— Dawid Konotey-Ahulu, Founder and Board Director
Redington wanted a fresh, progressive brand platform to help them achieve their goal of helping 100 million people become financially secure. A brand that reflected where they were going, not where they have been.
The Redington team's energy, ambition and openness - and their willingness to try new ways of working - was inspiring. In only a few weeks, we were able to develop a new brand positioning and identity. Working with our partners and theirs we then designed a suite of beautifully executed digital and physical touch points including their website and office interior.
Duration
1 month strategy & design, 3 months roll-out
Location
London, UK
Brand & Marketing Strategy | Product Innovation & Design | Team Enablement
Thinking about a change
When Redington started, they were on a mission to change the pensions landscape for the better. They were ambitious, smart and experienced and wanted to prove that large pension fund deficits need no longer exist. So the brand goal in the beginning was simple: make the business look established. Show that they belong, can be trusted and will point the way forward for clients.
But 11 years later, they'd grown from one client to 80 clients. From two co-founders to an incredible team, 140 strong. All committed to helping 100 million people become financially secure. They were established, but they didn’t want to look like the establishment. They wanted to shake it up.
Stage one: What is the perception of the business?
How do you see yourself? If we were to ask your friends would they say the same thing? What about people who wouldn’t call themselves your friend? Would they describe you differently?
As an independent, we spoke to everyone with fresh eyes. We spoke to stakeholders to see how they saw the business. To clients, lapsed clients and even to those that they had lost pitches to recently. We ran anonymous surveys with the internal teams.
Only then did we present the business back to the business. Across nine themes from their culture to their perceived point of difference.
Stage two: Aligning the leadership & teams
With the leadership team fully informed of how they are perceived today, we were ready to plan tomorrow. In a fast paced but well structured environment, we brought the leadership team together to define their purpose, personality, market positioning and values. We stayed in their offices for the next few days to talk to them and play back their views visually, editing and adapting until we had the brief right.
We developed an engagement framework. It detailed how the business would like to engage with the world and how they would like to be perceived in return. It defined not just the principles, but the proof points. The actions that make the brand.
Stage three: Getting creative
Before we put pencil to paper, we started with an audit of how the brand assets are currently being used, and how their competitors present themselves. We ran a truly modern design process, inside their office, open door, in Sprints with the customer at each stage. We iterated from three routes to two and then finally one, with testing at each stage.
We held panels with the teams, leadership heard testing feedback and designs were iterated in real time. No big reveal, and everyone felt part of the process. The end result was a much bolder approach than they started out thinking they would take.
Stage four: Making it real
In a process that took less than four months from hello to delivery, we loved working with the Redington team at every turn. With the fully finalised brand guidelines and assets delivered, we collaborated with the marketing team to plan out everything from pens to premises. The jewel in the crown was the news that they were moving to a brand new purpose build floor at Bank, and we were asked to help design the environment. Challenge accepted.
“I hadn’t realised it was possible to put so much time and effort and energy into the intensity of the colour… and that’s just the logo — there’s so much more in terms of the brand and the science that was brought into the process — I was blown away by the results.”
— Dawid Konotey-Ahulu, Founder and Board Director
What’s your mission?
We work with global brands, using design thinking to develop new, or improve existing, products and services. Our brand-led approach ensures that they outperform.
If you’re trying to do more with less, get in touch with us to help you get there and leave you in a better place.
