Broadridge sought to enhance the way investors, asset managers, press and industry professionals engage with their annual Investor Trends Report. Traditionally delivered as a static document, the report provides highly valuable insight into investor behaviour, preferences, and market trends with the United States. To maximise its impact, Broadridge partnered with Studiomade to transform this report into an interactive digital tool that allows users to absorb and interrogate data dynamically.

Our teams collaborated together to help conceive, design and visualise a user-friendly, data-rich digital experience that brings the Investor Trends Report to life, not just once a year but for regular engagement and reference. Our proposition empowers users to engage with data in meaningful ways, featuring dynamic visualisations such as interactive charts and graphs that illustrate investor trends over time. Customisable filtering allows users to refine insight based on specific investment sectors, geographies, and investor profiles, while benchmarking tools provide comparative analysis across different demographics and market segments. Personalised insights tailor content recommendations to individual user preferences, ensuring a more relevant experience.

Asset managers, wealth managers, and advisors can now leverage this powerful tool to enable real-time trend identification, helping them uncover shifts, themes, and emerging opportunities. It supports strategic decision-making across product development and business lines while enhancing client engagement through insightful educational content. Additionally, its seamless integration into proprietary datasets enhances internal analytics, ensuring a more data-driven approach to portfolio and business growth.

The intuitive, interactive nature of the tool has driven increased engagement from key audience groups, making complex data more accessible and actionable. Users can now extract insights that directly influence product development and market strategies, leading to better-informed decision-making. By delivering a cutting-edge investor insights experience, Broadridge has strengthened its position as an industry thought-leader and innovator in US investor behaviour analysis.

For more details, visit: Broadridge Investor Trends Report

Project background

Following the acquisition of STM Group Plc, Global Pension Corporation (GPC) sought to establish itself as an innovative leader in pension management. This transition aimed to set new industry standards and establish the organisation as a trusted resource for international pensions, life assurance solutions, and more. With a clear mission to bring transparency, security, and quality to pensions and savings, GPC partnered with Studiomade to create a cohesive brand transition and digital presence that would resonate with a global audience and position it as a forward-thinking company within the financial services sector.

Our objectives

We were tasked with developing a brand identity that would:

• Reflect the organisation’s expertise and innovative approach to pension and savings solutions
• Build brand visibility while emphasising a mission to evolve the pensions landscape for the better
• Provide brand unification across multiple business units and regional entities as part of the acquisition process
• Establish a strong and scalable digital presence with an engaging, informative website ready to release at the point of purchase.

Brand Development Process

Building a brand identity

We worked closely with the client to design a brand approach and visual identity that would convey strength, trustworthiness, and modernity. A colour palette was chosen to evoke tranquility and stability, while gradients were used to add depth and sophistication. The primary brand logo features the full ‘Global Pension Corporation’ name, with a simplified ‘GPC’ variant for specific brand applications and avatar use. A clear naming hierarchy was developed to maintain consistency across the organisation’s global regions and business units to provide clarity to existing and new clients.

Tone and messaging

The brand voice was crafted to be both professional and accessible, resonating with corporate clients and individual policyholders. Messaging was centered on GPC’s commitment to ‘a brighter, more secure retirement for everyone’, reinforcing the company’s client-focused approach. Key phrases like ‘Redefining the future of pensions’ and ‘Unwavering support’ were used across brand materials to emphasise GPC’s dedication to excellence and client satisfaction.

Digital presence and customer experience

We developed a user-friendly website (custom-built in WordPress) that provided a showcasing of all business units acquired through the STM Group Plc purchase. The website was designed with a clean, structured layout, incorporating linework from the brand style and organised through sections that guide users to GPC’s services, expertise, and values. Emphasis was placed on easy navigation and the ability for an individual to quickly locate relevant information on pensions, trust management, and product offering. High-quality photography of natural landscapes, coupled with subtle gradients, created a visually engaging experience reflective of GPC’s values. With a siteplan that allows for simple scaling as product strategy evolves, the presence is a building block to wider customer experiences that will launch in the future.

In addition, our team managed the email engagement and communications outreach that informed existing customers and IFAs to the brand change and introduction of Global Pension Corporation.

Brand guidelines and digital templates

In addition to the website, we provided the existing internal team a resource library comprising of brand guidelines and templates for social media, email, presentations, and marketing materials, with live Figma and InDesign references to ease implementation. This collaborative approach helped ensure brand consistency across digital and print platforms. Our assets were designed to allow easy customisation, enabling GPC to communicate quickly and effectively with diverse audiences across its various regions and business units.

Outcomes and market impact

This cohesive brand approach, messaging, and digital presence has contributed to GPC’s growing credibility and visibility in the pension and savings marketplace. Clients can now engage with a brand that embodies trust and innovation, gaining confidence in GPC’s ability to deliver secure and forward-thinking pension solutions.

Conclusion

Our work with Global Pension Corporation exemplifies the power of strategic branding to help define a company’s market position, particularly as part of an acquisition process. By creating a visually engaging brand and cohesive guidance to implementation, we have enabled the GPC team to communicate its purpose effectively, paving the way for future growth and success within the pension and savings sector.

The DB pensions landscape

There are more than 5,000 defined benefit (DB) pension schemes in the UK (schemes which pay pension benefits based on salary and length of service) with £1.4tn in assets. Around 9.6 million members are relying on them for their expected retirement income. However, private sector DB schemes are in decline and an estimated £400bn worth of trustees and sponsors are seeking full settlement of member benefits by transferring their assets and liabilities.

But there are challenges in the marketplace. Demand for settlement is surpassing supply. Sponsors (usually the employer), who may be under financial stress, need enough money to fulfil their pension commitments to employees and are looking to remove their financial risk. Trustees, who oversee pension funds’ management, have to safeguard members’ interests even if it means sponsor insolvency. Stakeholders need strategies to navigate this.

PSF Capital’s solution

PSF Capital has launched a new solution to the market, CovenantPlus. This Capital-Backed Funding Arrangement (CBFA) gives DB schemes access to external capital to help them meet their funding and investment objectives, using an agreed strategy and timeframe. It gives sponsors cash-flow certainty and removes risk. It gives trustees a strong covenant, protection from scheme failure and greater security in protecting member’s pension benefits, supporting their end-game strategy.

Our role

We helped craft and position this new venture including building the brand, establishing a look and feel that best suited the B2B marketplace and crafting a digital presence that would talk to all stakeholders. Our input included client engagement and lead generation through the delivery of a seamless digital experience and gated content.

Working within the finance sector often involves short timeframes were opportunities need to be seized quickly. Our work with Covenant Plus allowed for a 3-month timeframe, where all ideation, content planning, design and development was tackled – allowing for the concept to be realised and released to market quickly.

We created areas of open access content along with locked content to encourage registration and lead gen. Once registered, users were provided access to a data room and case studies showing details of solutions PSF has provided to other schemes.

Brand creation

Our visual identity for the brand centres around safety, trust and certainty about the future. To invoke these feelings we’ve used strong architectural images with 90° angles and encased the logo and brand motif in robust holding device. PP Neue Machina is the typeface, chosen for its personality, echoing the straight edges and secure nature of other brand components. We particularly like the detail of the inktraps (where some corners are removed from letterforms) as this gives character to the typeface and is very distinctive for this ‘secure’ brand.

The outcome

CovenantPlus is a belt-and-braces approach to reaching a settlement or managing a scheme in a run-off period, removing related economic risk for the sponsor and removing the sponsor risk for the trustees. As PSF’s chosen creative partner we helped to launch a venture that manages risk, gives sponsors and trustees more security, and supports a better future for employers and their pension scheme members.

Pension SuperHaven were a new company created in order to sell Pension Products in partnership with Age Wage, primarily defined benefit. The challenge was to position PSH as a trustworthy new company within the financial services sector as well as bringing a sense of humanity and transparency to the brand. They needed a brand that would allow them to communicate across all physical and digital platforms consistently.

We crafted a compelling brand and website, ensuring clarity in financial guidance. From strategy to execution, we designed a seamless digital experience, making pensions accessible and engaging. Our work reflects trust, simplicity, and innovation, empowering users to navigate their financial future with confidence

The challenge

Broadridge is one of the world’s biggest fintech companies, with more than $6bn in revenues, providing technology infrastructure and solutions to some of the world’s leading financial institutions. In 2023, it knew that asset managers were facing a wide and complex range of challenges, from fee pressures to evolving client expectations.

These challenges also present opportunities for asset managers to meet unmet client needs, stand out from competitors and fuel engagement. To capitalise on these opportunities, they need cutting-edge tools with data, to define and measure a firm’s competitive advantages, and strategy, to deploy them effectively. Broadridge decided to build the world’s first custom-generated AI for asset managers.

As an ongoing creative partner, we were asked to design the UI and UX, support with logic and customer journey definition, create a visual approach that could scale, and craft marketing assets including an explainer video.

How it works

DistributionAI has two areas: Insights and Analytics. Insights is trained on ten years of Broadridge’s proprietary research, insight reports and expert thought leadership. Users can explore themes and trends and get thematic answers to questions impacting the global asset management industry.

Analytics, when launched, will provide precision analytics, quantitative answers and forecasts about current and future demand for global asset management products.

The product uses natural language generation techniques to allow users to explore and interrogate Broadridge’s distribution knowledge base.

AI UI and UX

We designed the look and feel of this product to fit with Broadridge’s existing brand guidelines including an ident and avatar that is instantly recognisable as an AI tool.

We had to make the UX simple yet compelling. This had its challenges, such as two separate areas, each using different data sets. Some of the solutions we addressed were clearly signposting the two core functions; question depth of each chat (how much a user can ask in one chat before resetting the query); how they can interrogate its answers; source identification; when to start a new chat; and the presentation of parsed data.

Like publicly available AI, DistributionAI uses natural language generation techniques, but unlike ChatGPT and others it’s trained on specialist asset management research and data that’s not publicly available. Unlike public GPT models, sources are included at the bottom of its responses, so these can be verified to validate response.

We also created an explainer video to introduce DistributionAI to Broadridge’s existing and potential clients. Watch our 30-second version:

The outcome

DistributionAI is an intelligent virtual analyst, using AI to give asset managers fast access to ten years of proprietary research, global market insights and thought leadership, plus unique data and analytics from Broadridge’s market-leading products.

Leadership, strategy, product, marketing and sales teams can now access knowledge and analysis at a speed they couldn’t previously, and respond to industry dynamics with decisions based on evidence. It is empowering them with the intelligence and insights they need to compete in a fast-paced, changing environment.

We’re working on a number of AI projects. If you’d like to discuss yours, contact Phil Reid, our Strategic Director, at phil@studiomade.co

Most people don’t understand their pension 
and Aviva wanted to do more to give scheme members clarity. In a changing market, it also wanted scheme trustees to purchase Aviva annuities with confidence that their members will be supported.

We undertook three cycles of design, testing 
and iteration, with intensive design sprints, agile working and rapid turnaround of user testing reports. We discovered what real customers need and the language that resonates with them, and defined features that we tested and validated. We delivered a product that has gone into development and will transform the way members interact with their Aviva pensions.

The senior stakeholder said:

“Studiomade has 
a collaborative, engaging way of working and 
the entire team is positive, expert and outcome focused. Their delivery has made a massive impact in our ability to galvanise senior internal stakeholders and external audiences.” 

The Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA) is a non-profit organisation representing the fund management industry. It exists to cultivate the development of the fund industry in Hong Kong; enhance the industry’s professional standards, in line with international best practices; and maintain the region’s status as the major fund management centre in Asia.

Its website no longer reflected its position in the industry. The organisation wanted a bespoke new digital presence that better presents the expertise, services and knowledge base it offers to its members. It had to be brought up to date in how it looks and how it functions, have an easy-to-access resource library for members, talk to broad audience groups and be a tool for communication within the organisation. 

What we did

We built an improved, user-led digital environment using our proven steps, from initial strategy through to design, prototyping, user journey and website build that functioned across multiple languages. We began by refining the messaging, and crafted a core narrative that presents HKIFA’s market advantage and positions it as an authoritative knowledge base, with an easy-to-access resource library for members. 

With the client located in Hong Kong, we ran remote, interactive workshops to manage and lead product development from concept through the development process. This will continue with review and performance monitoring post-launch.

Design and build

We redefined the digital structure, considering how content will sit and how each audience will navigate around it. We designed a creative look and feel – with a clear UI and UX –  to uplift the brand, with a user-focused and human-led approach (as we do for all digital product creation).

There were a number of specific requirements. It had to be secure, GDPR compliant, scalable, follow W3C content accessibility guidelines, integrate with existing data, have multi-language functionality, be easy for HKIFA’s teams to use and update, and able to manage CRM database integrations and future portal additions. It also had to offer English, Formal and Simplified Chinese translations.

Crafting a bespoke WordPress environment allowed us to meet all these requirements. The platform is a safe GDPR-compliant infrastructure that accommodates existing information and can integrate with any other existing data that HKIFA holds. We built in rich, organic-focused SEO as well as data analytics and reporting, so that results can be easily measured. We employed WPML translations allowing HKIFA complete control over all language input.

Automated display of data

A unique element of our digital delivery is the automation and display of data pulled directly from third-party vendors linked to HKIFA. This includes organisations such as Morningstar, FTSE Group and Lipper. Our team wrote a number of individual automation scripts, which run at set times to retrieve new data from multiple sources, and adds latest versions directly to the HKIFA website.

For daily MPF figures (Hong Kong’s mandatory provident fund for retirement savings) we retrieve an updated file every morning, extracting figures and adding these to our own database, which is then displayed on the HKIFA website. This has removed significant manual input that previously had to be done by the HKIFA team, and gives visitors a lot of added value through real-time data.

Digital infrastructure

The website is hosted on Kinsta, a Google Cloud hosting environment that utilises a tech stack optimised for WordPress. It can handle high traffic spikes easily and is secure, with two-factor authentication, GeoIP blocking, hardware firewalls, many advanced features and active and passive security measures. In the future we can plan and develop prioritised integrations where necessary with custom APIs as required.

Content management system

To empower HKIFA’s internal team we developed a digital platform that they can independently control and manage, with a WordPress CMS that’s simple, functional and easy to use at launch and in future. It’s able to handle the future content additions and database integrations that have been part of our project requirement planning.

The outcome

We built a bespoke, strong, scalable digital platform and brand presence that meets multiple client needs around functionality, data automation, language translations and accessibility. It positions HKIFA as the authority it is, improves the way members can engage and access knowledge and insights, and is set up to easily adapt to data-led future needs. 

Shareholder reports are among the most important documents that investors receive. Until 2022, they were also among the longest and the hardest to decipher. In January 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission brought in amendments to modernise these reports.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler, announcing the change, said: “Shareholder reports are amongst the most important documents that fund investors receive. These reports, however, often are more than 100 pages in length. As a result, a retail investor looking to understand the performance, fees and other operations of a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund may need to sift through extensive financial information. Today’s final rules will require fund companies to share a concise set of materials that get to the heart of the matter. 

“Further, today’s final rules are designed to promote transparent and balanced presentations of fees and expenses in investment company advertisements. 

“The rule amendments will require funds to provide concise, tailored shareholder reports that highlight key information, such as fund expenses, performance, and portfolio holdings. The instructions for the revamped reports will encourage the use of graphic and text features to make them more effective.”

Adopting change directives and coming up with unique design solutions is something we deal with all the time at Studiomade. In this case, for Broadridge’s Tailored Shareholder Report (TSR), it took the form of information design and data visualisation. Our design had to give a refined experience for the reader as well as meeting all the SEC’s requirements.

What we did

Define the content

We had to cater to every eventuality so that our design met all requirements, particularly in this situation, where the detail of the document has legal implications and real-world application may have unique use cases. We had to design to a worst-case scenario, where the longest title, shortest chart and every type of source detail could be included within a TSR structure, with a templated approach that would work well every time.

A clear, concise structure

We needed a systematic reading flow. In a report like this, shareholders want to see at-a-glance top-line information as well as a deep dive into the data. Our team plotted all the content components so that we could present and prioritise them in the best way, with a design that leads the eye through an appropriate hierarchy of information and doesn’t frustrate the user by hiding details that they need to easily see. 

This is a good stage to work with test audiences. Qualitative research informs our design decisions and helps us understand users’ needs and frustrations. We were able to check that in meeting the SEC guidance we hadn’t lost sight of the users’ requirements and their reading experience.

Typography and colour

With all the information defined, we built a design system that would work across a suite of communications, meeting accessibility guidelines and best practice.

Intelligent use of typography is of primary importance with copy heavy publications. We created a strong and consistent style and hierarchy across heading styles, subheadings, tables and body text. Consistency creates familiarity for the reader, so that they instinctively understand the flow and pattern of a document and the eye quickly recognises the purpose of a content element.

The role of colour also has a large part, particularly when communications are co-branded. We built a wide-ranging colour palette that can expand and flex as required. 

We also used iconography to help signpost users to key information quickly. The structural planning work that we carried out earlier in the process was particularly valuable here, so that high-priority information could be given an icon or signifier to draw attention to it. 

Testing and delivery

Designs are interpreted slightly differently by every user so this was another good point to test on an audience. Working with systems such as usertesting.com we sense-checked our choices, iterating on our work to make improvements and create a design that’s both engaging and functional. 

Another change in the SEC regulation was to make the process greener. Printing and sending hundreds of reports and thousands of pages to shareholders isn’t the most environmentally friendly method. Our solution altered this approach with a digital experience, designing a microsite to house the multiple reports needed by investors with multiple share classes. 

This was a key part of our process review, providing efficiencies to scale and doing less harm to the environment. 

The outcome

We created a tailored shareholder report that contains all the condensed, legally required information, plus a microsite housing reports for individuals and investors with multiple share classes. Investors can now quickly find essential information, both top-line and deep dive, without ploughing through a report that’s hundreds of pages long. Broadridge can be confident that it is providing investors with what they need as well as being compliant with the new SEC regulations.

Are you a fund brand or broker?

If you’re looking to tackle the SEC challenge and refine how you communicate with investors, let’s talk. Our team integrates directly with yours, supporting you with the changes you need to make. Talk to us today about how we can partner with you. 

Vast numbers of reports are created by financial insight firms every day and so inboxes are full with subject lines promising unique intel, a new angle on a subject or large volumes of data to interrogate. In all this noise, how do you get your clients to read what is pertinent? How do you elevate your insight, putting it front and centre into the eyes of your desired audience? This is where great data visualisation and storytelling comes in. 

Planning the story

Broadridge approached our team to create a digital infographic that would tell the major story in their new report The Digital Asset Revolution: Preparing for the Next Generation of Financial Markets. We worked with their editorial team to determine which elements would be of most value to their readers and which data points we could showcase, putting together a script of what this infographic would look like including charts, icons and wider content blocks.

Social content and video

Our creative approach was applied to social content and video, used to drive traffic and interest to landing pages on the core Broadridge website.

Campaign look and feel

With the story defined, we then created a visual language that sat within the Broadridge brand but also brought something new and exciting to this campaign, referencing the topic. We used the Broadridge colour palette, adding bright accent colours to reflect the digital nature of cryptocurrency and crafting an ownable campaign style. 

Delivery

Working with the Broadridge digital team we supplied assets to populate the campaign destination within their given digital template. We also produced a downloadable pdf that could be shared via email to form part of the wider report promotion.

Pittbull Ventures, a startup within the investment space who focus on consumer brands required a brand identity established with a digital edge. Integrating the Sebastien Sanfilippo beautifully-designed Mint Grotesk typeface, we set about crafting a look and feel that would principally function within digital environments, but with the ability to scale for physical (and in particular live event) scenarios of use in the future.