Can Two Respected Brands Merge and Stay Differentiated, Together?
Featuring the best of both brands required maintaining the integrity of each mark while creating a system to govern them both.
CASE STUDY / Brookfield Oaktree Wealth SolutionsServices
Branding + Brand Management
Visual Identity Design
Data Visualization
Digital Experience Design
Brookfield acquired Oaktree in 2019, and their combined might sent shockwaves through the alternative asset management world. As each enjoyed a strong brand reputation, they continued to operate largely independently.
Each organization was offering Wealth Management Solutions to consumer-focused financial advisors. While these offerings were identical, parallel selling under two separate brands was not taking appropriate advantage of their unified foundation.
BRANDING + GUIDANCE Guiding our work with harmony and consistency required conducting independent marketplace research and creating a Brand Brief. This work explored and defined the competitive landscape and defined core brand elements: voice, tone, key product offerings, and brand attributes. Further, this Brief outlined parameters for the new identity, including how to account for combined (Brookfield and Oaktree) and separate (Brookfield or Oaktree) use cases.
Applied Services
Research
Brand Strategy
Briefing
VISUAL IDENTITY DESIGNBy rebranding Wealth Management Solutions under a joint Brookfield/Oaktree identity, both entities would gain the opportunity to diversify and potentially increase revenue. Practically, this unification would also reduce redundancies and the cost of gaining and maintaining operational knowledge.
To support this unification, we were asked to analyze, design, extend, and codify a visual identity and brand system that was flexible enough to work in consolidated instances, as well as feature one or the other component brands when needed.
To complement the marks, avatars, and icons, typography treatments, color, and other elements were designed to serve market-facing use cases. The system was then applied to collateral and core communications, including sell sheets and both parent- and product-focused websites.
Applied Services
Brand Consultancy
Visual Identity Design
Brand Guidelines
Template Applications
WEBSITESBrookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions had existed on the web in several places, but never as a website. We were tasked with unifying the brand’s digital presence while considering the sensitives and additional requirements of marketing financial services across multiple countries.
Our work also illuminated areas that benefited from visual storytelling via iconography, infographics, and data visualizations.
Integrating with a third-party development team was critical, as many documents and disclosures were required to be displayed via third-party hosting. On top of these requirements, we designed a UI kit that served as the genesis of a digital system for product-focused sites.
Applied Services
Information Architecture
UX/UI + Information Design
Data Visualization Design
CMS Design + Integration
Third-Party API Integration
Development Liaison + QA
The Brookfield REIT website would serve as a critical digital touchstone for product potential and existing customers while meeting disclosure, informational, state-by-state approval, and other fiduciary requirements. The site was also designed modularly, considering it would serve as a template for future Brookfield Oaktree product sites. Further, many site components displayed data that needed to be brought to life dynamically across mobile, tablet, and desktop breakpoints.
Lastly, our work required us to serve in an editorial capacity, maintaining a consistent and effective voice and recommending an optimal informational hierarchy.
WRAP UPWe continue to build upon our initial work, communicating Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions’ ever-growing offerings into new collateral and web properties. Fostering this brand from concept to in-market success is an ongoing reminder of how effective early-stage planning is in building brand recognition with consistency.
Additional credit: Armchair and Mark Ramel for work shown in this case study.