/XINHUA Finance
/Overview
XINHUA
Xinhua Finance Group serves as both a content provider for financial institutions and high net worth individuals and an intermediary between them.
Services Rendered
01/ Customer Experience
02/ Key Messaging
03/ Identity & Positioning
04/ Visual Language & Art Direction
05/ Design Production & Execution
06/ Brand Messaging
07/ Brand Guidelines & Playbooks
08/ Content Strategy
09/ Photography
10 Copywriting
Opportunity
The XINHUA Finance project was another large, long-term, and complex project that represented an incredible opportunity to live and work in Hong Kong.
For XINHUA Finance I was tasked to create the entire corporate brand with the goal of launching all facets of the project on the date of the firm’s Nikkei Mother’s Board listing in Tokyo, Japan. The XINHUA Finance listing was the first time a Mainland Chinese company was ever listed on Nikkei Stock Exchange.
Approach
For XINHUA Finance I created the entire corporate brand with the goal of launching all facets of the project on the date of the firm’s Nikkei IPO in Tokyo Japan.
Like the XFMedia project, I started with a blank sheet to worked and developed the brand from there. For XINHUA Finance I developed production schedules template, creative PERT templates, and best practices. These templates were later used for the XFMedia project in Shanghai.
Solution
Over the course of the project, my team and I create XINHUA Finance logomark, brand guidelines, key messages, investor stories, showreel, and launch event designs. We created multiple sets of marketing collateral, developed advertising campaigns, created investor relations pitch decks, and consulted on all corporate communications initiatives.
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OUTCOME
/Results
We succeeded on all fronts and the company listed on the Nikkei Stock Exchange’s Mothers Board. This IPO represented the first Mainland China company to list on the Nikkei Exchange.
XINHUA Finance Annual Report
I wrote and designed the first XINHUA Finance annual report with support from the executive, investor relations, and corporate communications teams. The concept of the annual report was that it should look like a journal, complete with hand-drawn diagrams of the company’s development, concepts, and structures.
After the publication of the annual report, it went on to win various IR awards in Hong Kong.
XINHUA Finance Annual Report.
/Challenges
/Solutions
01/ Bridging cultural gaps. Mistrust of most Chinese companies on Japan.
Because of long term experience of working and succeeding in multi-cultural business environments, I had a deep set of real-world experiences to draw from (I had previously lived and worked in Japan for over 15 years).
I also had long term professional working relationships with the CEO of the company and many key senior executives which helped pave the way towards efficiency and results. The key here was the development of a core set of mutually accepted principals.
02/ Creating universal key messages, and a unifying voice. Localizing these messages across multiple cultures.
We focused on principals rather than positions when developing and localizing the key messages and the unified voice of the brand. Our development process was transparent and open - even if this sometimes meant dealing with real cultural challenges. This was especially helpful when working with our joint venture partners at FTSE, and PR Newswire, amongst many others.
03/ Aggressive development timeline. No existing brand in place. No design, marketing, support staff in place. Immense pressure to succeed.
When I started working on the XINHUA Finance project we literally had nothing in place. We also hard a target IPO listing date that was just over a year out from our start date. By developing and maintaining clear and detailed creative PERT production schedules, which all key parties had a say, we were able to keep all aspects of the XFMedia brand development on schedule and under budget.
XINHUA Finance Brand Guidelines
The branding team under my direction developed the XINHUA Finance Brand Guidelines.
XINHUA Finance Brand Guidelines.
XINHUA Finance Brochure Design
Select XINHUA Finance brochure design developed and written by the branding, sales, and marketing teams.
XINHUA Finance Brochure.
XINHUA Finance Website Design
The team and I developed the XINHUA Finance website. The site was localized into four different languages and included live feeds from one of our joint venture partners FTSE of London.
XINHUA Finance multilingual website development.
XINHUA Finance Logomark Design
I developed the XINHUA Finance logomark design with my first creative hire. The design was a stylized version of the “Xin” Chinese character. The “Xin” was also an important derivative design element to connect the company with our key investor the Xinhua News Agency.
XINHUA Finance logomark development and execution.
.WORK /XINHUA Finance
Work: Strategic Planning
Eric Rhodes
, Brand Design, IPO / Private Placement, Web Development, Photography, Hong Kong
