Wahed
Helping a global fintech grow beyond its base
Wahed Invest is the world’s first automated Islamic investment platform. Headquartered in New York City, the fintech serves over 200,000 clients in 130 countries and has empowered a new generation of Muslims to start investing in-line with their faith.
Challenge
To fuel the next phase of growth Wahed needed to grow share with Western investors, but brand awareness and relevance beyond a niche conservative Muslim minority was poor. Working with the Chief Marketing Officer and Founder, we helped Wahed develop a global brand strategy that would broaden their brand’s relevance beyond their base.
Strategy
We began our engagement with a segmentation of potential investors in Western markets, sizing the opportunity and likelihood of the brand winning with each. This helped senior stakeholders evaluate trade-offs between growth opportunities and focus the firm’s long-term marketing strategy on a specific source of growth.
Muslims in the West are not a monolithic mass. An incredibly diverse group ethnically and religiously we knew that a) we couldn’t expect them to invest with us simply because we were the Halal option and b) a more overtly religious positioning would potentially turn off certain groups of Muslims as well.
To broaden our relevance with all Muslims we decided to make the brand more inclusive for all. This meant a shift in messaging from overtly religious themes to more inclusive ones based on immigrant values. Our approach would help Wahed capture greater share within the highly diverse Muslim community and beyond.
Visual Identity
We were also asked to explore how the new brand strategy could be brought to life visually. Over a two week period we developed a new visual identity direction that allowed Wahed to express themselves as a modern, human-focused brand.
Photography
A reportage photography style steers away from the usual depiction of model minorities, instead showing joyful and tender candid moments that are real and relatable.
Type and colour
A careful selection of typographic styles strike just the right notes of credibility, digital practicality and humanity. A soft and optimistic colour palette deliberately departs from the well-worn hues of legacy finance and investment firms.
