Open teams up with Infront to challenge conventional thinking in financial services sector

Repositioning a leading financial data and solutions company

How do you merge two companies, in two different geographic regions, to create an even stronger unified brand? One company – with a clear purpose, mission, values, brand story and value proposition. And then translate that into compelling communications. That was the challenge for Infront, a fast-growing financial data and services provider.

Following a review of agencies in London and Frankfurt, Infront opted to go with Stockholm-based Open. “Right from the start we had a good dialog and liked how they combine strategic thinking with pragmatic steps tailored for us – all backed by a solid mix of international B2B experience, branding expertise and a strong multicultural team,” says Meredith Sledd Lindquist, Head of Marketing at Infront.

“They also brought with them relevant experience from working with financial professionals at companies like Handelsbanken Capital Markets, Swedbank Robur Asset Management and others.”

Workshops to get everyone onboard
 To date, the branding work has involved workshops in Frankfurt, Germany to gain deeper insights into the company’s business. Using a structured process, the whole idea was to build a close dialog with all key management functions – from the CEO and HR and IT to Product Managers, Marketing and more. This way, everyone felt engaged and like they were contributing to a result they could stand behind in the end. A selection of key steps taken so far are:

• Establishing the brand purpose
• Defining the brand’s mission
• Setting and defining a new set of corporate values
• Defining the brand’s value proposition
• Creating clear customer segmentation
• Defining the brand character and setting the brand story

A clearly differentiated brand position 
“Open helped us to stake out a clearly differentiated position in the market, get everyone onboard and define a brand platform that everyone could buy into. Now we have a brand platform that can serve as a guide for everything we do,” says Meredith Sledd Lindquist.

The smarter choice for financial professionals 
“The collaboration with Infront has been fantastic!” says Henrik Sund, Account Director at Open.“Smart people, fun group and definitely well on their way to establishing themselves as the smart alternative for helping financial professionals to reach their full potential.”