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How Ninety One launched 27 country websites.
A new digital foundation helped Ninety One manage its global brand with greater flexibility.
Ninety One is a global investment manager with roots in South Africa and clients around the world. Its business spans markets, investment strategies and audiences, making digital an important part of how people discover the firm and engage with its expertise.
When Ninety One became an independent company, its digital presence had to reflect the scale and character of the new global brand. Publicis Sapient partnered with the firm to create a digital experience that could define the business clearly across markets and given clients a consistent way to engage with it online. The work established a strong digital presence for Ninety One as it began its next chapter.
Investec Asset Management was formed in 1991 in South Africa, during challenging social and political times. When the decision was made in 2018 for Investec Asset Management to become an independent firm, it meant they would need a new brand and a new digital experience—and they needed to build them within a year.
Their previous, custom-made platform had degraded over time, resulting in a slow site and a poor experience. In addition, it was cumbersome and time intensive to develop new digital solutions or products quickly enough to react to new business scenarios.
Named after the momentous, and sometimes turbulent, year in which they were founded, the firm was rebranded as Ninety One. Their new slogan: ”Investing for a world of change.”
The divestment created the opportunity to completely reimagine their digital experience platform. By moving onto an enterprise-grade CMS—Sitecore 9—the new experience could be both ownable and consistent at all levels. Every touchpoint is now unmistakably Ninety One. With the new CMS, they can meet current and future audience needs. It’s a flexible and modular solution that can flex quickly and easily to different business scenarios. And it provides meaningful insights to the business by integrating with wider sales and marketing architecture (like Salesforce, Pardot and Seismic).
The new digital experience platform resulted in improved site performance globally. Now, future investment can go into new features and enhancements, rather than reducing technical debt. Importantly, the platform has the complete front-end design flexibility for each country to tailor their site to specific regulatory and business challenges. The platform also enables personalization, making Ninety One’s content more relevant over time. A clearer connection between content and product will enable clients to get the best information for them, fast.
Ninety One's clients also responded immediately to welcome the new brand as ‘fresh, lively and energetic.’ The new positioning of ‘Investing for a world of change’ has never felt more relevant.
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We had to work at tremendous pace to deliver for our business – so the ‘one team’ mindset, and open ways of working meant we could move fast without taking any shortcuts. As a result we have a new brand and digital experience platform that is not only authentic to who we are, but gives our business the foundations for ongoing success in the coming years.
"— Courtney Waterman,
Head of Creative Marketing, Ninety One
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Working with Publicis Sapient for our digital and brand transformation meant we considered our transition to Ninety One holistically. It is the ability to have this complete point of view - and deliver on it fast - that made the impact of this project so high for us.
"— Nigel Smith,
Chief Marketing Officer, Ninety One
Bradley Gamage
Senior Client Partner
