Ninety Nine
My role:
• Brand Guardian / Visual Designer
• UX/UI
Ninety Nine is a Spanish fintech startup, aiming to empower everyone to become a smart investor. This neo-broker, founded in 2018, is on the mission to democratize investing and make it accessible to the 99% (hence the name).
As a Visual Designer I was a resource shared between the Marketing and Product Teams. My main task was to create a cohesive branding experience across different communication channels (internal and external).
Challenge
I joined the company in the early stages of their startup lifecycle, which turned out to be equally exciting and challenging. A few examples of the difficulties that I faced:
- Ninety Nine was still figuring out their target audience and polishing their user personas
- Within a year its visual identity got revamped twice, to better match the more mature version of the product
- Frequent changes of the marketing strategy
- Low internal brand awareness
Target Audience & Content Strategy
The investment platform, Ninety Nine’s main product, was aimed at three main user personas: Beginners, Traditional Investors and Experienced Traders. In order to gain their trust and convince them to use our services we needed to abandon the product-centric approach and prove our relevance in their day-to-day life. Our brand’s mission was to improve people’s relationship with money, and we aimed to do so by:
- informing & teaching,
- empowering,
- entertaining our target audience.
After months of in-depth user analysis our Data Team came up with important conclusions:
- Investors and Traders should be our primary target: being only 22% of our active clients they generated 44% of estimated Forex revenue and deposited three times as much as the less experienced group, they also had an average churn rate.
- With proper lead nurturing (e.g. through educational content) Noobs could become Investors over time and therefore be more profitable.
User persona #1: Young Investor
User persona #2: Mainstream Investor
User persona #3: Expert Trader
Based on that we established 6 main color-coded content pillars, based on the company’s values: Simplicity, Responsibility, Transparency, Empathy, Ethics, Accessibility:
- Financial culture: basic financial knowledge (e.g. what is inflation),
- Investments: basic, medium & advanced level,
- Money Tips & Tricks (e.g. how to start saving up, how to earn money through a side-hustle),
- Product News,
- Financial concepts: a glossary of basic terms,
- User opinions, reviews.
Social Media
We prepared all the social media posts according to the previously mentioned pillars, making sure each one of them appears at least once within a two-week cycle. Our content calendar included publications on: Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Blog (within the public website), as well as CRM and push notifications. I was responsible for preparing the static & video assets for the posts.
Report: Millennial Investing Habits
In April 2021 we published our first study about Spanish Millenials and their investing habits, based on the user data we gathered from Amplitude and Google Data Studio. I prepared the report as a pdf booklet and adapted the most interesting findings to social media formats. The report was well received by the media, resulting in a few articles about the observed trends.
Press Kit
In parallel we worked on improving our general presence in the media. I was responsible for designing the official press kit, including all the facts & figures about Ninety Nine. The dossier also presented the main functionalities of the app.
Marketing
I worked on several advertising campaigns (online & offline), focused primarily on client acquisition and brand awareness, using channels such as: affiliation platforms, Universal Ad Campaigns (Google), Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin Ads.
5€ Campaign
It targeted two user groups: newly registered customers and dormant clients. They would receive a 5€ cash deposit in their accounts, that they could spend on trading within the app, within 72h after claiming the gift. The campaign was prepared for the following channels:
- banner & pop up modal within the app
- CRM campaign (push, email)
- paid media campaign
- guerilla advertising: printed 5€ tickets distributed within the major Spanish cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, etc.), containing a QR code with the link to the landing page
I was responsible for preparing the landing page (wireframe & final design), where the traffic from the campaigns would be directed, static PPC assets, art direction of the video ads (storyboard, key visuals) and print-ready design of the 5€ tickets.
Other campaigns
I created static & animated assets for several other paid media campaigns (Google UAC, Native Advertising, Social Media) focusing primarily on generating more app installs & increasing brand awareness.
B2B: Ninety Nine Institutional
In the first quarter of 2022 Ninety Nine expanded into B2B & B2B2C. In collaboration with the Product & Marketing teams I prepared a B2B-oriented landing page, showcasing all technological solutions we could offer our partners & available cooperation methods. I designed the initial wireframes and the final layout, together with the main animation featured in the header.
Internal Branding
Together with the Human Resources Team I worked on the internal branding of Ninety Nine. Our goal was to transmit the core values, mission & vision to all of the employees and create an emotional connection between them and the company. We prepared, among other things:
- Email signature
- Employee Linkedin cover
- Company gadgets (t-shirts, canvas bags, laptop stickers etc.)
- HR communications & document template
- Presentation template (including the correct use instructions)
Photography art direction should transmit the care and wellness of animals, show nature with respect and admiration. Staged photos of the staff should be avoided, instead portray them in their everyday tasks. Key concepts: Ease, Warmth, Commitment & Professionality.
