December 30th, 2009
As your company moves into the New Year, it is important to review your strategic marketing plan to see how your branding needs have changed in the past four quarters. When updating your brand and initiatives, it is important to assess the overall growth strategy of your firm, pinpoint long and short-term goals, and analyze past successes and failures to ensure that each initiative is tailored to your specific needs. Your re-branding book should include:
- A strategic plan with creative and functional needs and goals for the brand
- Analysis of external factors, such as any changes in your target audience’s needs or buying patterns
- Full competitive market overview to ensure that you identify your competitive advantages and differentiate the brand from other offerings
Using strong web, media, print, and press strategies, your company can effectively communicate and build lasting relationships with its target audiences. With the right combination of strategic thinking, creative insight, and innovation, you can achieve business growth and success in any economic or investment environment.
Tags: analyze past successes and failures, business growth and success in any economic or investment environment, identify your competitive advantages, long and short-term goals, review your strategic marketing plan, target audience’s needs or buying patterns, updating brand and initiatives
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December 30th, 2009
This quarter, the team at MBC was contacted to concept and create a retirement presentation for an area wealth management firm. Having previously completed a comprehensive rebrand for the company, MBC focused on building consistent branded design and messaging throughout the presentation while emphasizing the company’s competitive advantages, investment philosophy, and asset allocation strategy. A valuable addition to the firm’s arsenal of materials, the presentation was a success, helping to generate leads and communicate their brand identity and differentiation from its competition.
Tags: brand identity, building consistent branded design and messaging, comprehensive rebrand, Differentiate from competition, emphasizing the company’s competitive advantages
Posted in Branding Strategy, Client Projects | No Comments »
December 30th, 2009
As your business grows, it is important that your website grows with it. A content management system (CMS) allows you to better manage and customize your site and make important updates about your firm as they occur, giving you more control of your site and your brand. While keeping a website up to date can be difficult, time-consuming, and potentially costly, a CMS is a simple, user-friendly solution to more control of your site and your brand, from anywhere, without any code or HTML issues. With a CMS to execute technical details, build the menus and navigation, and keep page layouts and design consistent, you can focus on reaching your target audience, as well as your company’s goals.
Tags: better manage and customize your site, content management system (CMS), focus on reaching your target audience, keep page layouts and design consistent, more control of your site and your brand
Posted in Branding Strategy, Design | No Comments »
December 30th, 2009
As we close out 2009, we can certainly point to marked improvement over the state of the markets this time 2008. After a 4Q08 and 1Q09 that saw stock prices drop precipitously, pushing trailing 10-year results to negative for most major indices, markets rebounded nicely during the remainder of 2009. Just as the pendulum may have swung too far on the upside prior to the collapse, it certainly swung back too far in March as well, allowing for what will seem to be a strong calendar year of performance for core equities and many risky asset classes, such as emerging markets and junk bonds. This was amidst decidedly negative, albeit with lessening negative momentum, in most fundamental economic indicators. What this means for 2010 is certainly up for debate, as pundits seem to be split down the middle. As always, consistent and cohesive client communications strategies will help your firm navigate any market environment.
Tags: consistent and cohesive client communications strategies, improvement over the state of the markets, navigate any market environment
Posted in Industry updates | No Comments »
September 25th, 2009
This quarter JPMorgan Chase completed their nationwide rebrand of recently acquired Washington Mutual, including remodeling nearly 200 locations. The undertaking represented a dramatic clash between the hip, unconventional banking style of WaMu and Chase’s conservative, tried-and-true image. Washington Mutual based their distinct, well-established brand identity on differentiating from more traditional banking competitors with branding strategies including bright primary posters, lively colors, sardonic ads, and casual branches modeled with their patented Occasio, retail-style design. As with any rebrand, Chase was challenged to retain customers with strong loyalty to the original brand, while leading the firm in a new direction. However, as victims of the largest banking failure in U.S. history, it is now more important than ever for WaMu customers to feel secure and protected, themes central to Chase’s longstanding reputation for dependability. The coming quarters will determine the true success of the merger rebrand as customers respond and business continues.
Tags: brand identity updates, chase wamu rebrand, merger branding, occasio design, retain brand loyalty, updating brand strategies
Posted in Branding Strategy, Industry updates | No Comments »
September 25th, 2009
Nearly ten years after their initial brand development, MBC revisited a commercial loan advisory and real estate investment banking firm to embark upon a comprehensive rebrand, updating their logo design, website, and corporate identity materials to better convey the growth and success they had experienced. The package included more modern and sophisticated web design, updated content, new logo and branded imagery, and streamlined core messaging. Acknowledging the importance of revisiting a company’s brand and adjusting the marketing strategy to better pinpoint changes in company values and growth, we emphasized the powerful reputation and experience that the firm has developed in the past ten years in the industry, as well as their widely expanded offerings and client base. The successfully articulated rebrand and new website launched during the third quarter.
Tags: branding for loan advisory firm, branding updates, corporate identity materials, custom logo design, custom website resdesign, rebranding strategies
Posted in Branding Strategy, Client Projects, Communications, Design | No Comments »
September 25th, 2009
In the second and third quarters, the team at MBC Strategic worked with an East Coast Real Estate Investment Trust to rebrand their company and help position their offerings. The efforts, which included comprehensive web design and development, corporate identity brochure design, and overall messaging and content restructuring, focused on updating the look and structural flow of the firm’s website to better communicate their investment process and depth of both the team and their product offerings. MBC also developed a custom content management system (CMS) and multi-leveled password protected site for the firm’s investors, partners, and financial advisors. This allows the company to fully manage and instantly update any section of the site with new materials and content, as well as position the FINRA reviewed and approved site for use with the public, investors, and advisors. Working closely with the client, MBC sought to heighten brand credibility with benefits-based messaging, streamlined navigation, increased site usability, and sophisticated aesthetics.
Tags: Build brand credibility, communicate brand identity, Content Management System, corporate identity brochure, investment firm rebrand, web design
Posted in Branding Strategy, Client Projects, Communications, Design, Investment Marketing | No Comments »
September 25th, 2009
Marketing experts maintain constant debate over the value of social media marketing in the financial and investment services. While it’s tough to argue its effectiveness in consumer branding, financial services generally tests the lowest of any industry group, with only 14% of consumers willing to engage in social context interaction with a brand (Razorfish 2009). While a successful industry expert blogging strategy can drive traffic to your company’s site and boost search engine results, it will also require constant update and deep interaction with your target audience, as well as additional legal review. As more and more companies expand their efforts to include social media marketing, it is important to explore your own goals to determine if this avenue is right for your firm. MBC Strategic can help you build and manage social networking properties that uphold your firm’s carefully crafted brand identity and messaging and help you to communicate that message across marketing channels.
Tags: drive site traffic, financial services branding, industry blogging, social marketing strategy
Posted in Branding Strategy, Industry updates | No Comments »
June 11th, 2009
Given the increasing crunch on wallets and budgets, the search for unique and creative web design strategies that are also functional and cost effective has never been stronger. One thing that helps is evolution of ActionScripts and tools that enable better ability to combine and bridge HTML, Java, and Flash design. This enables powerful interactivity and media output of what used to require all Flash, without the negative impact on SEO and URLs of years past. Solutions that utilize HTML, Java, and Flash elements together can provide the same rich user experience more efficiently than ever before.
Tags: combine HTML and Java and Flash design, enables interactivity, functional and cost effective, negative impact of SEO and URLs, rich user experience more efficiently, unique and creative web design strategies
Posted in Design, Industry updates, Informative Articles | No Comments »
June 11th, 2009
During the quarter, MBC assisted one of the nation’s largest asset managers and mutual fund companies with the development of a detailed historical analysis on their asset allocation program. The project consisted of analyzing and synthesizing over 10 years of data and performance and positioning the product and its investment process into a white paper for use with financial advisors. The paper highlighted the active asset allocation approach and analyzed how and where the managers were able to add alpha through asset class selection on a year-by-year basis.
Tags: asset managers and mutual fund companies, detailed historical analysis on asset allocation program, white paper for use with financial advisors
Posted in Client Projects | No Comments »
