Bailie Group
Written by Gary Pattison
Rebranding and building the online presence of a heritage investment group
Bailie Group is a Leeds-based investment group with a portfolio spanning defence, print, technology and more. Based on a legacy of over 60 years of investment, the family-based group were looking for a new direction.
Bailie Group’s approach is centred around investing in ideas, people and places that make a positive difference. Funding projects that help companies grow and taking a collaborative approach to their investments. They also have the vision to make a real impact, with the goal to achieve net zero emissions before 2050, supported by their use of renewable energy on all group properties and a zero waste to landfill policy.
With a solid foundation already in place, Bailie partnered with Fantastic Media to refine its positioning and develop a new visual identity.
The Challenge.
Fantastic Media was tasked with reviewing and strengthening Bailie Group’s brand position. It needed to clearly communicate the group’s personality: friendly and accessible yet also established and resilient, building solid foundations to build their messaging around.
This included evaluating Bailie Group’s digital presence and how their website could better represent their values and expertise, resonating with prospective investments.
The Research.
To build a strategy and website that represented the Bailie Group, we took a deep strategic dive through our INSIGHT process. Over an 8-week period, we analysed where we could improve the current brand and website. This meant reviewing competitors, current brand alignment and considering the preferences of potential investments. Key findings included:
- The opportunity to better represent Bailie Group’s evolving business model
- The need to build upon the personalities within the Bailie Group, and their collaborative values
- The current website didn’t clearly communicate their values, investment criteria and leadership expertise
The Big Idea.
We found that Bailie Group wasn’t effectively promoting their collaborative, friendly approach to family-led investment, so repositioned them around these core values. This made it critical to refine their market positioning, ensuring that they stood out against other investment houses.
We proposed a change to the Bailie Group brand, establishing them as “The Home of Investment”, an open-minded investment house that emphasises people and relationships over performance. This was paired with a visual refresh, introducing new core colours and graphic devices, to create a distinctive, stylish yet business-like execution.
The refreshed brand and positioning were then implemented across the new site, with a refreshed look and feel, structure and messaging that represented the group’s values, portfolio and investment criteria.
“Fantastic Media have set us up for the next stage of our evolution. They truly captured the essence of our group and translated it into an outstanding brand and website that sets us apart from other investment houses.”
Fergus Bailie, CEO at Bailie Group
“Our INSIGHT process allowed us to take a strategic view of the Bailie Group, reviewing their offering as an investment house, their values and the alternatives. The findings informed the strategic repositioning of their brand, focusing on the collaborative values that guide everything the Bailie Group do.
This shows the power of strong positioning in the professional services space, as we managed to carve out a distinct identity for the Bailie Group, before building them a website to reflect this.”
Gary Pattison, Director of Strategy & INSIGHT, Fantastic Media
