Scaling the brand without flattening what made it recognisable.

The brand didn’t need a changing. It needed ownership. How I turned the business’s established identity into an owned, accessible brand system that could support more than 200 employees, 15,000+ clients and a growing national business.

At a glance:

• Remit: Brand direction, creative direction, visual identity development, accessibility, creative standards and internal enablement

• Scale: 15,000+ clients and around 200 employees

• Stakeholders: COO, Compliance, Marketing, advisers and regional teams

• Outcome: An internally owned brand system spanning client communications, digital content, workplace environments and local marketing

The problem was not the logo. It was ownership.

The business already had a recognisable identity. Gold had equity, the bespoke Green was distinctive and the existing logo was familiar to clients and colleagues.

The problem emerged as the business grew. More people were producing communications, the brand was appearing across more environments, and some original source assets created historically with external agencies were no longer readily available internally. Without a stronger system, growth would gradually create inconsistency.

My view was that the business did not need a rebrand. It needed to become more deliberate about the brand it already had. I took ownership of developing that system: rebuilding the master identity assets, establishing the visual direction, creating formal brand guidelines and translating those standards into tools the wider business could use. The guidelines were subsequently reviewed and approved by our COO and Compliance.

Understand first. Impress second.

That principle became the creative filter for the work.

Financial communications have a different job from consumer advertising. Clients need to know who is speaking to them, what something means and whether they need to act. Visual impact matters, but never at the expense of comprehension.

I drew on Swiss design principles to develop a cleaner visual language built around grids, spacing, hierarchy and restrained typography. I also changed the balance of the existing palette. Rather than removing Gold, I protected its heritage value but used it more selectively. Green became the stronger visual anchor, supported by more neutral colours.

The point was evolution rather than aesthetic reinvention. Familiarity had value, so the job was to make the identity work harder without making the business feel like a different organisation.

Accessibility became part of the identity, not an exception to it

The Client Agreement provided an important test.

This was a regulated document containing substantial information and requiring new client signatures. I redesigned the standard version around clearer hierarchy, controlled spacing and a more useful opening structure so clients could understand what the agreement covered before entering the detail.

We also needed a version for clients with poor sight. Rather than enlarge the existing document and call it accessible, I created a dedicated version with larger text, shorter line lengths, more white space and clearer separation between written and visual information.

The standard document is 24 pages. The accessible version is 40. That increase was intentional. Page count mattered less than whether somebody could comfortably read and understand what they were being asked to agree to.

It also changed my thinking about the wider system. Accessibility should not be treated as an adaptation made after design decisions have been taken. It should influence those decisions from the beginning.

A useful brand system should reduce dependence on its creator

Guidelines alone would not solve the problem. The system needed to change what other people could do. I translated the direction into practical resources including presentation templates, letterheads, document house styles and internal guidance. I also introduced approved brand resources into Microsoft Copilot, giving colleagues a better starting point when creating material themselves.

Routine design requests into Marketing have noticeably reduced as a result.

That matters because I do not think successful brand management should be measured by how much work Marketing keeps for itself. The stronger outcome is giving colleagues enough structure to make good decisions independently.

The same thinking informed branded Teams backgrounds. They are a small asset, but many clients now experience their adviser through a screen. The brand therefore has to work there just as deliberately as it does in a formal document.

Our Kirkcaldy branch proved that brand consistency did not have to mean uniformity

The Kirkcaldy office, which had previously operated under the Cairn brand, gave me an opportunity to apply the system somewhere very different from a document, presentation or digital channel.

Working with the regional team, I developed external signage, window graphics, internal branding and local promotional material, then extended the identity into the business’s sponsorship presence at Kirkcaldy Rugby Club.

The important judgement was not to create a separate regional identity. Cairn had already established recognition and relationships locally, so imposing a national brand without regard for that history could have made the transition feel like something had been lost. Instead, I used the brand system as a framework: recognisably consistent, but flexible enough to respond to the office, the club and the people who already knew the business there.

Laura Young, who works regionally from the Kirkcaldy office, described that balance directly:

“I think one of the biggest successes was retaining the strong local presence we had already established whilst aligning everything with the brand. The branding has given the Kirkcaldy office a clean, professional and consistent look, whilst making the most of the visibility available to people passing the office.” - Laura Young DipPFS, CMgr MCMI, Financial Planning Support Manager - Regional. Project Name: Company-branding and local presence, Project Date: May 2026

The rugby club work appears to have had an even more visible effect locally. Laura said:

“The rugby club branding has probably had the biggest impact locally. The signage has been designed to reflect the club environment whilst remaining recognisable as the business, and the feedback from the local community, introducers and my connections has been fantastic.” - Laura Young DipPFS, CMgr MCMI

Most importantly, the change of brand did not erase the relationship that had already been built:

“Given Cairn’s long-standing sponsorship of the club, many people have commented on and appreciated the business’s continued support, which has helped make the transition feel seamless and positive.” - Laura Young DipPFS, CMgr MCMI

What changed

The business now has internally managed master assets, approved creative standards and a more coherent approach to accessibility and brand application. The system extends through major client documents, presentations, social media, video, digital meetings and physical environments.

More importantly, it has changed ownership.

Colleagues have better resources for producing routine material themselves. Regional activity can adapt to its context without becoming disconnected from the wider identity. Future work can begin from an established creative direction instead of recreating one each time.

The next opportunity is not another rebrand. It is deeper integration across the website, events, client environments and the growing adviser network.

The foundation is now there. The job is to keep extending it without losing the familiarity that made the brand valuable in the first place.