Finastra Brand guidelines

The challenge

The merger of financial software powerhouses Misys and D+H in 2017 created Finastra, one of the world’s largest fintechs. With a presence in 130 countries, Finastra has over 9,000 customers, including 48 of the top 50 global banks. Finastra had a longstanding relationship with our team who helped create the Finastra name as well as the company’s shared belief – “The Future of Finance is Open” – which set the tone for the sector. In 2019, Finastra asked us to assist in the next evolution of the brand – creating a more powerful brand narrative, image and culture in line with their new five-year business plan.

Finastra Brand positioning

The Solution

We began by examining the new business strategy and having in-depth conversations with key members of the leadership team including the CEO, COO, and the newly-appointed Chief People Officer. Finastra’s aim is to be the leading pure-play financial software company with an open architecture model that powers innovation in financial services.

To deliver their vision, they needed the brand to act as a powerful platform, shaking off any residual bank-like corporate perceptions, and positioning the company as an innovative and agile fintech for customers, partners, developers and employees.

We re-framed the brand narrative to be simpler and more compelling for an entire ecosystem of audiences. In addition, we developed a powerful employee proposition idea: Join the movement to create a more open financial world – and created special messaging for recruitment communications to attract the best and brightest financial professionals and software developers worldwide.

Finastra Brand positioning
Finastra Brand positioning

A key element of transforming Finastra’s image was to change the tonality of its communications and other brand applications. After a thorough examination of all the ways in which the brand was being used, we identified the need for new and improved identity elements that would enhance the look and feel of the brand.

We expanded the identity ‘toolkit’ with these elements, allowing for the brand to be applied more expansively and with greater flexibility without compromising brand consistency. Conducting another review of hundred of ‘sub- brands,’ we rationalized the portfolio to be much simpler in its current form and created rules for the creation of future sub-brands.

Notably, we built an entire identity sub-system for Finastra’s 10,000 employees that would suit the particular profile of that audience in line with the new employee proposition. We augmented this with new principles for writing so that all internal and external communications would better reflect the desired brand image across advertising, white papers, social media, and so on.

Finastra Brand positioning
Finastra Brand positioning
Finastra Brand positioning
Finastra Brand positioning
Finastra Brand positioning
Finastra Brand positioning
Finastra Brand positioning
Finastra Brand positioning

The Result

The entire solution was delivered in less than three months and rolled out to the entire network of Finastra markets. A validation exercise across six key markets revealed great enthusiasm for the new brand direction, particularly for its clarity, inspirational qualities, and increased relevance for a broader set of audiences.

The issued tools and guidelines created a solid framework for brand governance increasing efficiency and compliance, while reducing the burden for marketing and HR teams across the world.

Finastra positioned for growth:
A new brand narrative and model
Employee value proposition and culture model
Brand architecture structure and guidance on creation of new sub-brands
Evolved and expanded visual identity system Identity system and guidelines for employee communications
Tone of voice principles and guidelines