Appleby Offshore-i report brand campaign

BRIEF

As one of the world’s leading international law firms and specialists in offshore M&A, Appleby wanted to broaden the awareness of its expert insights in this area by evolving its Offshore-i initiative, in a bid to become the go-to firm for offshore trends, deal intelligence and transactional data.

Adjacent to this, Infinite Global was working with Appleby on a newly aligned brand identity. Therefore we agreed that the relaunch of the offshore M&A thought leadership piece would also serve as a transitional brand campaign, introducing new visual identity elements across new formats and channels.

APPROACH

After benchmarking and mapping research into audiences, platforms and the firm’s commercial landscape, recommendations centered around ensuring the valuable – but sometimes technically heavy – content was approachable for a range of target audiences and users. Appleby developed core content areas and began researching data around offshore activity, while Infinite Global focused on distilling the discovery insights, along with current brand evolution, into a tangible creative and tactical brief. Offshore-i was set to become Appleby’s pioneering ‘offshore M&A insights and deal intelligence’ report.

Working collaboratively with Partners in the Corporate and Private Equity teams, as well as the firm’s marketing and communications team, we explored a nuanced campaign identity and translated an array of statistics and intelligence into infographics and visuals – segmented into key sectors and organised into thematic trends. Appleby’s experts added deeper analysis and predictions around future trends, while Infinite Global’s creatives defined campaign photography and iconography, developing a contemporary and visually engaging report for print and digital use.

Focusing on a small number of social media channels, we began to dissect key findings and takeaways into accessible pieces of information that resonated with target audiences. As well as quote grabs and statistical analysis from expert Partners, we developed a series of short motion graphics, designed for social media – bitesize looping video that visualised historical trends or compared M&A activity across sectors. Various animated adverts placed on strategic referral websites also increased traffic to the Offshore-i landing page.

OUTCOME

Following the success of the updated 2018 report, we continue to collaborate with Appleby on new iterations of the bi-annual thought leadership report. However as audiences and trends change, the dissemination and amplification of branded content requires new approaches. The most recent Offshore-i campaign included two podcasts and all new motion graphics – and as offshore M&A trends shift over time, so the future need for insights and intelligence from Offshore-i will grow.

Find out more about Offshore-i at www.applebyglobal.com/offshore-i.