Financial Services Firm Rebrand
Diversified investment services firm brand architecture
CHALLENGE
MBC Strategic was contacted by a national investment management and financial services firm to help develop their overarching brand strategy and to reshape the brand architecture to include a wide range of sub-brands. Across multiple subsidiaries, Atlanta-based Angel Oak Companies offers mutual funds, hedge funds, capital advisory, brokerage, capital markets advisory, and financial institutional consulting, as well as retail, wholesale and investment mortgage and funding solutions. The financial services rebrand assignment included the strategic renaming of several sub-brands, and the development of a comprehensive messaging strategy for the parent brand, service lines and each subsequent company in the brand portfolio. Also included in the brand strategy project execution was the design of a new logo, a full suite of identity materials and the design and development of multiple websites.
STRATEGY
The team at MBC Strategic began a multi-phase investment and financial services strategic branding process in late 2013, performing deep research and analysis on Angel Oak’s key differentiating factors relative to a wide range of competitors and audiences. Searching for the essence that distinguished the firm across multiple market segments and target customers, MBC was able to pinpoint a spirit of exploration and a unique specialization that would help set the firm apart. Taking a think tank-like mentality across nearly every aspect of mortgages and credit from origination through securitization, the companies at Angel Oak are bound together with their clients by this sense of being on to something new and different in a collective journey of growth and achievement.
RESULTS
With a new visual identity and vibrant color palette used to distinguish core service offerings across asset management, consulting, capital markets and lending, the Angel Oak Companies brand launched in early 2014. Leveraging a new messaging platform and design execution across multiple service lines, companies and investment and financial services industries, the strategic branding platform delivered the foundation for the portfolio of companies’ next level of growth. A staggered launch plan includes the roll out of sub-brand materials and websites throughout 2014. The Angel Oak Capital website won an IMA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Financial Services and a Corporate Website Honorable Mention from Marcom Awards. The Angel Oak Companies have flourished since the rebrand, with the asset management firm jumping from $2 billion to $20 billion in AUM, along with extensive growth in mortgage origination and securitization among other divisions. In 2021, the newly refreshed site won Best Financial Services Website from WebAwards and a Gold Award from dotCOMM.
