OneFamily

Building a modern family finance brand for a £7.5 billion financial services company. OneFamily has firm roots in putting customers first. Owned by its customers and with no third-party shareholders, the business was created by the merger of Family Investments and Engage Mutual in 2015 – a joint heritage that combines 80 years in financial services and the management of over £7.4billion for their customers. OneFamily was the mutual bank that no one had heard of. They needed to advance the look and feel of their brand to mark the next step in their evolution, launching new products that help families reach financial goals. We worked with them to enable future growth of the business by developing a brand identity that centred a new ethos: modern family finance.


Deliverables

Brand guidelines Brand strategy Copywriting Digital design Film Marketing Photography Print collateral Tone of voice UX Visual identity Web design Web development

Sector

Financial services

Location

UK

Although the OneFamily brand was introduced at the point of the 2015 merger, its business had evolved, and now it needed to make its branding work harder to stand out in the crowded customer-centric financial services marketplace. Its existing brand and visual identity didn’t reflect its new target audiences and business plans. Like many businesses that have made the complex operational, financial and cultural journey to merge two large institutions, it required a brand that matched its new ambitions – one that could unite its people, purpose and potential.

It was time for a change in brand identity, but with the same clear mission at its heart: to offer financial solutions that were focused on the challenges that families are facing today.

We knew OneFamily was a different kind of financial institution from the moment we stepped through the doors. Rather than the typical wall of grey and blue suits, the OneFamily staff could easily be mistaken for working at a creative-tech enterprise – demonstrating a spectrum of charisma, diversity and youthful energy that personifies Brighton. Over the course of four months, we workshopped, interviewed, researched, questioned and analysed the business to discover what it was that united One Family’s 600-strong workforce.

Our research uncovered that the financial services industry has traditionally claimed finance is personal – creating a damaging taboo around money – shrouded in secrecy and seldom talked about openly. But finance never really is just personal. OneFamily sees the true impact our financial choices have, and what truly motivates people to save, invest and spend. Throughout our research, intergenerational finance became a key talking point, linking to OneFamily’s drive to create products that families of today really need.

OneFamily’s new brand identity revolves around an attitude that views your own finances as intrinsically linked to the people in your life that you call family. They stand for modern family finance, for all of us.

From photography to copywriting, we overhauled every element of their brand identity, to embed the message of a financial services firm that understands modern family life and all of its intricacies and many-faceted functions.

The new circle logo encompasses the all-embracing definition of family – whether it’s through blood, love or circumstance. A fresh, bright and clean colour-palette provides a clear background from which to share their key messages in structured, bold statements – a straight-talking company communicating who they are and what they stand for within an industry rife with mistrust.

The UnitedUs team took the time to understand us and really get to the heart of what is important to not only us as a company, but to our customers too. Our new brand reflects our belief that finance is no longer personal but about families working together to meet the demands of modern life.

Tracey Hastings

Wall graphic showing a mother and son photographed on a grey background, with the message 'for a sense of freedom' placed over the centre of the wall
Wall graphic showing two parents, their daughter and her partner, photographed on a pink background, with the message 'for taking the fist step' placed over the centre of the wall
Brochure on a table showing part of the front cover and a key spread with an elderly couple photographed on a yellow background and copy and pie charts focused on retirement statistics.
External photograph of the office taken at night with a slow shutter speed, to show the illuminated logo, lightbox and light trails.

For so many of us, when we save, we’re saving for our children and for our parents, as one family.

Multi-cultural family consisting of a mum, dad, son and daughter stand together while laughing. They have been photographed on a grey background.
We are delighted that our employees have really got behind this work, and it’s great to see our marketing now featuring so many of our employees and their families and friends. We couldn’t think of a better way to demonstrate how important families are to us as a business, than by using those that matter the most to everyone who works here at OneFamily.

Simon Markay

A young brother and sister hugging and smiling. They have been photographed on a pink background.
Two women in their late 20's playfully engage while holding a paint tray and roller. They have been photographed on a blue background.

Want to build your brave brand with us?

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