Showcasing AXA as a leader in ESG investing

Broadridge was commissioned by global investment management firm AXA to provide knowledge and research insight on the topic of ESG investing, for a research report and campaign. 

Thematic investing – building a portfolio around companies benefitting from long-term economic, political or societal structural shifts, rather than by sector or geography – is rapidly rising. With investors increasingly wanting to understand how such funds fit into a broader portfolio, AXA wanted to make the case for a thematic strategy, particularly ESG investing, to become a mainstream investment approach. AXA IM has a history of thematic investing, convinced that such a strategy can give investors superior growth potential, create new investment opportunities and help to future-proof their portfolios. 

The company commissioned research from Broadridge to explore this topic. 

For its analysis, Broadridge drew on its extensive global network of experts, data and research, using: interviews with 90 fund selectors in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America about their use of thematic funds; a dataset of assets, flows and other information on 91,000+ global funds; a global dataset of 1,471 thematic funds in 13 segments; plus several years of market research interviews with the 1,200 largest professional fund selector firms in Europe and Asia Pacific.

As Broadridge’s long-term creative partner, we were asked to design the report and create assets including animated videos for both companies to use on their social media.

What we did

The goal was to create a distinctive white paper and a campaign with assets that could be used across the white paper, AXA’s website and social media. We used AXA’s brand guidelines to guide the layout of the report and creation of new assets. 

We had to integrate photography, and sourced images that are relevant and realistic for the content matter and match AXA's optimistic, uplifting brand tone. 

Showing the story behind data

To clearly present Broadridge’s insights, we used data visualisation. For each data story, we created brand-appropriate visualisations that worked well in the PDF report and in regionalised versions (North America, Europe and Asia) as well as in summary documents and presentations. We also created a separate set for video animations to use on social media.

Collaboration

Good project management and sign-off process was essential as this was a collaborative effort between AXA and Broadridge and all our design elements had to be agreed by both. They had to approve our visual look and interpretation of the brand guidelines as well as the way we presented research findings. We worked closely with AXA’s brand team in France and the insights team at Broadridge to ensure that everyone was happy.

The outcome

We created an engaging visual identity for an in-depth global report that showcases AXA as a leader in ESG investing, plus campaign assets for use across different platforms.