Insights tagged with 'client win'

Going live just before Christmas 2022, Close Brothers Asset Management's (CBAM) new bethebrand system delivers a timely step change in digital asset management at a time of change for the company's marketing.

CBAM is an established provider of financial advice and investment management services and works with professionals, business owners, individuals, families and their advisers, who are looking to preserve and grow their long-term savings and investments. CBAM is part of the Close Brothers Group plc, a FTSE 250 leading UK merchant banking group, providing lending, deposit taking, wealth management services, and stocks and shares trading.

Named MABLE (Marketing And Brand Literature Ecosystem), CBAM's bethebrand system was brought online from 'green light' to 'go live' all within Q4 2022.

Prior to the introduction of the new system, CBAM had been aware for some time that they needed a new approach to digital asset management. The previous digital asset management system was created on proprietary software, with a separate internal system for certain parts of the process. This resulted in two separate job numbers for the same job. What was needed was a complete remapping of all the workflows to lay the groundwork for a single integrated system spanning the needs of the company.

With a rebrand already underway and important industry developments in process, such as the FCA's new Consumer Duty legislation, CBAM needed to complete the workflow mapping rapidly to configure the new system and bring it online quickly.

The bethebrand team was able to step in and take on the workflow mapping project for CBAM. This greatly accelerated the deployment timescale, allowing the CBAM project team to expertly project manage the system deployment and identify specific system configurations, whilst simultaneously managing, and dovetailing in, its immediate major marketing projects.

Stage 1 of the bethebrand system is now complete. The business now has one end-to-end system, with one set of job numbers and all of its digital assets supported and managed in one place.

In addition to the formal user training, bethebrand also ran regular drop-in sessions for the team during January 2023 to help everyone acclimatise quickly. This hands-on style training was greatly appreciated, as it meant that the team could come in with real questions as they got to grips with using the new system in a live situation.

Stage 2 of MABLE is in planning. This will make the business's brand guidelines and brand assets, such as logos and photos, available to the wider team as a tool kit.

We are delighted to announce that Co-op Funeralcare's new bethebrand system is live.

The Co-op is one of the world's largest consumer co-operatives with interests across food, funerals, insurance and legal services. Owned by millions of UK consumers, the Co-op operates 2,500 food stores, over 800 funeral homes and provides products to over 5,100 other stores. Co-op Funeralcare is the UK's leading funeral provider for funerals and pre-paid plans.

On 29 July 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) began regulating pre-paid funeral plans following legislation passed by Parliament. The FCA has authorised 26 providers, who collectively hold approximately 1.6 million plans, making up 87% of the market.

Regulation has boosted consumer protection, with new rules in place relating to areas such as cold calling and a ban on commission payments to intermediaries. In addition, customers of authorised providers have access to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), so their money is protected if their provider fails.

Co-op Funeralcare sought a digital asset management system to ensure it could evidence good consumer outcomes with absolute clarity and deliver first class insight with regard to its sophisticated compliance and financial promotion processes.

bethebrand has been working with other Co-op organisations for some time. This gave Co-op Funeralcare deep insight into the capabilities of the bethebrand system and an opportunity to engage with the team quickly for a rapid deployment.

With an absolute deadline for regulation, Co-op Funeralcare required the bethebrand team to hit the ground running over the summer to undertake system configuration and train the team in time for the new system, nicknamed BABS, to be 'business as usual' by 29th July.

bethebrand rose to the challenge, with the timeline from initial decision to 'go live', including full training for the team taking just ten weeks.

Co-op Funeralcare is already seeing tangible benefits in having a single asset store and a system driven approval process.

Regulation is constantly evolving and a solid system-based approach is of paramount importance in managing change. With preparations for the new Consumer Duty, being introduced by the FCA on 31 July 2023, in full swing across regulated financial services firms, Co-op Funeralcare's step change in digital asset management ensures it is ahead of the curve in preparing for such regulatory changes.

It is a pleasure to announce that the Post Office's new bethebrand system is live

United to the same cause - 'Helping you get life's important things done' - the new system is set to offer a host of operational advantages across the organisation.

An anchor of UK communities for centuries, Post Office is a commercial business driven by a strong social purpose: to be there, in person, for the people who rely on it. Thanks to its extensive network of over 11,500 branches, the Post Office brings essential services within reach of communities and businesses alike - whether that's posting parcels to loved ones, depositing cash at the end of the working day or topping up the gas meter. 99.7% of the population lives within 3 miles of a post office and 93% live within 1 mile.

The Post Office's extensive range of services, including a range of financial services such as banking and personal insurance, means that governance, compliance and sophisticated project management lie at the core of its marketing operations.

With its current digital asset management system contract due for review, a comprehensive tender process was initiated which saw bethebrand chosen as the new provider.

The brief encompassed four key areas:

• Compliance - The transitioning of the compliance functionality to the new bethebrand system was the core priority prior to launch.
• Brand and Imagery Management - Enhancing the ability to dynamically manage the organisation's brand guidelines and accompanying image assets is delivered by the brand guidelines module. This ensures the marketing team can update the guidelines themselves and negate the need, for example, to have to send round a new PDF every time there is a change. Everything is in one place, delivering efficiency and underpinning brand continuity.
• Workflows - The Post Office is a highly sophisticated business. Working closely with the bethebrand team, workflow processes are being developed within the system channel by channel, delivering close and efficient working practices both internally and with external suppliers.
• File Management - Last and by no means least, comprehensive file management will enhance collaboration and communication across this large and intricate organisation.

The onboarding showcased the extensive configuration capabilities of the system. With hands on project leadership from bethebrand CEO, Adam, the Post Office had every query, question and quandary overcome with timely solutions to deliver a new system that opens up a host of opportunities through 2022 and beyond.

From 'Green Light' to 'Go Live' in Just 8 Weeks

Following an extensive needs analysis, Kensington Mortgages (Kensington) went live with their new bethebrand system, nicknamed KAS (Kensington Asset Store) in Q3 2021.

The new system builds on Kensington’s rigorous approach to compliance and risk management by delivering pan-organisational asset storage and workflow management to further enhance their one team approach./p>

Founded in 1995, Kensington has long been one of the UK's leading specialist mortgage lenders. Kensington serves fast-growing segments such as the self-employed, those with multiple incomes and the over 55s - people the high street is not always set up to cater for. The company’s approach is to look beneath the surface and go deeper than the mainstream lenders where all too often the 'computer says no'.

During the pandemic Kensington undertook a thorough examination of the needs of its teams across sales, marketing, product development, servicing, legal and compliance in terms of workflow and asset management requirements.

Working in a heavily regulated environment Kensington wished to ensure it had the best possible systems approach in terms of aspects such as document sign-off, version control and asset lifecycle management. Being undertaken within the pandemic, the company also wished to ensure that it offered its teams best practice support for hybrid working.

With previous marketing team member experience of utilising the system, bethebrand was invited to tender. Two key aspects of the bethebrand functionality and support won the day:

• Usability - Unlike some other tender participants, bethebrand offers the ability for multiple internal stakeholders to simultaneously collaborate in real time through the document sign-off process.
• Complete audit trail - The system offers a compete and detailed document history – an essential component of the high level of governance Kensington delivers.

KAS went from project ‘green light’ to ‘go live’ in just 8 weeks over the summer of 2021.

The initial launch phase saw the system implemented across the business in terms of acquisition communications. The launch took a ‘big bang’ approach, with the complete portfolio of marketing assets going live at once. The second phase brought the servicing teams on board, with customer collateral being added on to KAS.

Achieving great outcomes from an implementation as swift and complex as KAS is testament to the close working relationship, insight and expertise across the teams of both bethebrand and Kensington.

Going live in 2021 with its new bethebrand system MPAH (Marketing Production and Approval Hub), Quilter is implementing its system to deliver pan organisational support across its businesses.

Quilter plc is a leading wealth management business in the UK and internationally, helping to create prosperity for the generations of today and tomorrow. It oversees £108.5 billion in customer investments (as at 30 September 2021). It has an adviser and customer offering spanning financial advice, investment platforms, multi-asset investment solutions and discretionary fund management.

Quilter started its search for a DAM provider in late 2020, as it sought to bring an internal network of databases together into one system that could support the whole business. The new system’s core objective was literally simplicity itself:

• Deliver state of the art literature lifecycle management to underpin its thorough compliance approach.
• Streamline record keeping and approval processes.
• Oversee and manage workflows and help drive project planning across the team.

Each Quilter business has its own sets of documents, communications, websites, advertising, social media, and sponsorship programmes. Rather than opt for a ‘big bang’ changeover, the internal implementation team started with the literature suite of one business with a system capable and configured for the whole business.

Closely supported by the bethebrand team, this starter project acted as an excellent blueprint for the rollout and demonstrated the agility of both teams in moving through design, configuration, and implementation in a matter of a few months.

An important element of the rollout is the quality and availability of system training. Quilter’s early adopters, together with the internal trainers and bethebrand’s account team, are able to showcase the system’s capabilities and improved outcomes to the entire business. This close team working provides a controlled yet agile approach with minimal business disruption.

An important insight shared by the Quilter team was that the bethebrand team was always there when they needed them, and they never felt that making a call to them would end up with an extra bill. This transparency and trust is key to every bethebrand client relationship.

B&CE offers a great example of one particular capability of the bethebrand suite, to provide a sophisticated, mass, document management system.

B&CE Group is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1942 by unions and federations with the intention of providing financial products for the construction industry. Construction workers, who tended to move jobs frequently, needed a way to build up holiday pay.

Its first scheme was simple but effective for workers, and hassle-free for employers. Every week, a construction worker would buy a stamp to stick on a card. They could then cash in the card to give themselves money to live on when they took a holiday. Over time, construction workers needed more than just a holiday pay scheme. B&CE created more financial products and substantially grew its membership.

Today B&CE is perhaps best known for The People’s Pension, a leading workplace pension scheme with more than five million pension savers from over 95,000 employers and £16 billion assets under management.

In 2015, B&CE started a project to find a system to manage the approval and storage of its communication assets.. A thorough examination of the market led to detailed discussions with bethebrand and its appointment.

Nicknamed DAS (Digital Approval System), B&CE’s bethebrand system incorporates tiered access across the organisation. Amongst the B&CE user base are a core of internal trainers and superusers. This allows the organisation the freedom and flexibility to expand, train and develop its user base as required, whilst having a core team of senior system ‘ambassadors’ fully supported by the bethebrand team. This integrated and cascaded to training and support is both highly cost effective and operationally effective for B&CE.

The sophistication and size of the operational communications to five million savers is vast. It allows B&CE the convenience of a single pan-organisational system to safely store all customer communications across every channel.

The system’s document management functionality is configurated precisely to B&CE’s requirements. It is combined with full audit trail and approval functionality that allows users from right across the business, not just marketing, to collaborate, create, comply and control an intricate web of customer communications.

Wesleyan’s contemporarily named bethebrand system, MaRS (Marketing and Regulatory System), landed the second week of January this year and has rapidly delivered results.

Founded in 1841, Wesleyan Assurance Society (Wesleyan) is a financial services mutual dedicated to some of the most trusted professions in society and is committed to creating brighter financial futures for doctors, dentists and teachers, so they can focus on the vital work they do. Wesleyan partners with leading professional bodies, such as NASUWT, The Teachers’ Union, and the Royal College of General Practitioners, as well as advising large public sector bodies, such as the NHS Pension Scheme.

Wesleyan had developed its own system approaches, both in-house and with print partners, for a number of years. With the ever-increasing sophistication of marketing techniques, channels and assets, and the associated shift from largely print to mostly digital, Wesleyan required an ever-evolving system application. This delivered a clear understanding to the team of what their system was going to be required to do both today and in the future. It also highlighted a clear opportunity to harness the expertise of a specialist.

The decision was made to look to proprietary systems that could meet the specification. Most of all, Wesleyan were looking for a system that would work for them ‘straight out of the box’ - something that could be configured precisely, but that did not need development time.

The tender process was extensive and intensive. bethebrand stood out because it has a clear and simple approach at its core that can power intricate and sophisticated workflow processes. This is an important consideration for Wesleyan, which takes pride in the rigour of its governance processes. Furthermore, with 20 years of dedicated and focused financial services sector development, and many leading industry names as long-standing clients, Wesleyan was confident that it had chosen a trusted provider who would hit the ground running.

bethebrand delivered an agile and fluid system implementation process which allowed the team to be hands on with the system throughout. The outcome of this was that there were very few snags to overcome at ‘go live’, allowing the team to concentrate on the migration of its extensive asset archive and take the opportunity to audit and rationalise it in the process.

Four months in, Wesleyan is already enjoying improved outcomes; moving through approval processes at even greater speed without any dilution of rigour.

Furthermore, many more assets are achieving ‘right first time’ approval by compliance because of MaRS’ collaborative and diligent workflow systems.

Lockdown did not slow down Petplan in getting their new bethebrand system from brief to live in just 3 months. The new system, nicknamed RAP (Review and Approval Portal), provides a suite of functionality fully configured for the award-winning pet insurer.

Over the last 40 years, Petplan has helped millions of pets through illness and injury. Today, Petplan insures over 1.3 million pets, more than any other provider, with an outstanding record of paying 97% of the claims received. Petplan is a subsidiary of Allianz Insurance plc, part of the Allianz Global Group.

As the UK’s leading pet insurer driving a market-leading marketing programme, Petplan needed a system that could support its sophisticated multi-channel, multi-media marketing communications mix. What’s more, they wanted to further boost the business’ ability to collaborate, be creative and be nimble.

Petplan reviewed many different systems providers prior to appointing bethebrand in the Autumn of 2020. What they found is that many involved too many workarounds and compromises, or were too complicated. The team did not want to compromise in getting a system that could be moulded to exactly to how they like to work.

A great example of this is the RAP system feature to allow peer review. Rather than a signoff procedure, this allows team members to provide feedback and ideas for the development of new marketing assets. So well before an asset proceeds along a sequential signoff round, everyone can contribute and work together. This not only enhances speed to market, but also delivers the very best solution.

Petplan has built a powerful brand and managing brand delivery across all touch-points is key for success. As part of the build, bethebrand has delivered a brand guidelines and imagery site, all housed within the RAP system, providing an important brand management tool to play its part in supporting the team in driving Petplan’s competitive advantage.

The pandemic created no barrier to getting the system up and running speedily. A series of remote workshops allowed the team to quickly identify how they wanted the system configured, which laid the blueprint for rapid implementation.

We are delighted to announce the ‘go live’ of the new bethebrand system for Just Group.

Named Arc, it is the culmination of a highly successful project that marks the progression (hence the name) of the entire business into a new era of content management.

Just Group is a leading and established provider of retirement income products and services to individual and corporate clients. As retirement specialists, Just seeks to positively disrupt markets and deliver better outcomes for customers. The business has a strong social purpose; helping people achieve a better later life by providing financial advice, guidance, competitive products and services to those approaching, at, or in retirement.

The businesses had outgrown their previous ‘out of the box’ system, which had manual components within many processes. With expansion and transformation came the need to replace the old system with a bespoke solution that would be a strong engine for the continuing needs of the business.

bethebrand’s close alignment to the needs and processes of sophisticated financial services organisations meant that they had the system, expertise and experience to support a major pan organisational change project, which would see the old system swapped out for Arc very quickly.

All the product and service brand propositions of the group timed their content management changes to enable the joint project team to transition the 2,200 plus asset library rapidly across. In parallel with this transition, over 140 team members were trained by bethebrand over multiple sessions right across the organisation.

This approach ensured minimal disruption and was achieved smoothly during the pandemic, when team members were dispersed because of the necessity of home working.

Arc has quickly delivered the improved outcomes that were anticipated, creating even greater opportunity to collaborate and innovate. A good example of this is the way the new bethebrand system has eradicated the linear way in which teams had to interact when changing collateral on the old system. Now, whole project teams can inject their thoughts and ideas holistically, positively impacting organisational agility and speed to market.

Since 2009, Aldermore Group has been backing people to fulfil life’s hopes and dreams. The Group has two operating companies; Aldermore Bank plc and MotoNovo Finance Limited. Aldermore provides financing to back UK small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). They support investors and homebuyers with mortgage finance, while offering a dynamic online savings proposition. In March 2018, Aldermore officially became part of FirstRand, the largest financial services group in Africa by market capitalisation.

Aldermore appointed bethebrand to support the savings team solve a time-consuming process of building and approving marketing collateral. Following an extensive workshop programme involving bethebrand and Aldermore stakeholders, a bespoke solution was launched within the savings team. The pilot proved a great success. It provided the savings team with greater control over approving marketing collateral, faster speed to market and a trackable audit of material such as webpages, advertisements and customer letters. Following the success of the pilot, Aldermore’s business finance team also adopted bethebrand’s procedures.

With the well-established systems in place, Aldermore’s customers have benefited as a result. Bethebrand’s solution freed up resources and allowed Aldermore’s savings team to focus on further enhancing their product offering and service proposition. The efficiency and workflow capabilities of the bethebrand system also helped Aldermore adapt its business to the changing Covid-19 environment without interruption.

We are delighted to announce that we have launched the new bethebrand system developed for the British Business Bank. It has been 6 months in creation and delivers a bespoke experience to meet the specific needs of the organisation. The system has been named ‘DAhL’ after the well-loved author and incorporating the initials of ‘Digital Asset Library’.

The British Business Bank is the UK’s government-owned economic development bank. Its mission is to help drive economic growth by making finance markets work better for smaller businesses - wherever they are in the UK and wherever they are on their business journey. It is currently playing an important role in helping well over 1.4m businesses across the UK access the government’s Covid-19 emergency loans schemes.

bethebrand is a HM Govt G-Cloud Supplier and supports a number of Government departments. G-Cloud is a series of framework agreements with suppliers from which public sector organisations can buy cloud computing services. 4,200 suppliers have been awarded places on the agreement with over 90% of them small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), like bethebrand.

Over the last three years there have been several major developments within the Bank, the result of which has required a strategic review of the its brand, value proposition, customer journeys and new web and brand architecture to reflect a much more complex organisation, targeting multiple audiences.

The Bank’s products are designed and delivered through the market in order to improve the supply of finance for UK smaller businesses. It also has a strategic objective to deliver information to those businesses, educating and raising awareness around finance options so they are encouraged and enabled to find finance best suited to their needs.

DAhL is not just there to sign off materials. It is there as a strategic control and management system to help drive campaigns and ensure brand compliance within a multi-channel, multi-partner communications and education programme. It also playing a key part in boosting cross function and organisation collaboration even further at an unprecedented time for the UK and its economy.

Along the onboarding journey we have built a really enjoyable and close working relationship with the Bank’s team. Scoping and training during lockdown is not without its challenges. but with lots of lateral and creative thinking on both sides we have delivered something very special. This has included creating a system language style and help text that are immersed in the British Business Bank brand.

It is with great pleasure that we announce that British Business Bank is on board.

One of the best known names in UK life assurance with an illustrious history is the latest new client to deploy be the brand experience's software to help manage their financial promotions and compliance activities - bringing a nearly 200 year old insurance brand back to life.

We are pleased to announce that we have been selected by a UK government department following a competitive tender process - more news to follow as deployments complete.

Be the brand experience are delighted to now have our first client in the Emerald isle. The specialist solutions provider in the European insurance & reinsurance market has just gone live following a speedy 10 week deployment process.

We are very excited that the UK business of a major American insurer specialising in employee benefits have selected & deployed be the brand experience's configured platform to support their compliance and regulatory activities.

After a successful configuration and training we are pleased to welcome another mutual to our list of live clients. This top 5 Building Society has selected be the brand experience as the platform to manage their financial promotions lifecycle on and we look forward to becoming an integral part their marketing and compliance activities.

Be the brand experience welcomes their latest client with The Medicines & Health product Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Joining our growing group of clients in the public sector, MHRA will use bethebrand for the storage and access of all marketing assets as well as workflow approvals.

MHRA procured be the brand's Digital Asset Library and Workflows tools through the G-Cloud framework. After a thorough search through the Digital Marketplace, MHRA selected Bethebrand to meet their requirements for a digital asset library and marketing workflow approvals. A quick deployment followed with MHRA going live a short few months later.

The G-Cloud framework can be used by organisations across the UK public sector including central government, local government, health, education, devolved administrations, emergency services, defence and not-for-profit organisations.

Be the brand offers Digital Asset Management (Asset Store/Library), Workflow Management and CommsBuilder Templates through this agreement. The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) works with both departments and organisations across the whole of the public sector to ensure maximum value is extracted from every commercial relationship and improve the quality of service delivery. The CCS goal is to become the "go-to" place for expert commercial and procurement services.

Be the brand are pleased to announce that another Edinburgh based Financial Services provider has selected bethebrand to automate the management of their Financial Promotions asset lifecycle. Our digital asset store and workflow automation capability provides them with a cost effective, scalable and agile solution which will be up and running in a few short months.

To learn more, get in touch with us today!

Continued functional enhancements has led to fantastic results in 2015, including more new deployments than in any previous year of the company’s history. This phase looks set to continue during 2016 as positive feedback from users and clients spreads across the UK FS sector.

Our structured, client-focused deployment approach ensures efficiencies right from the point of Kick Off, and we tailor the roll-out plan to meet our clients’ specific time scales.

New functionality includes multi-asset work flows, video mark-up and a new dashboard. We always take our clients’ desires on board and release functionality to meet their demands. This new functionality is usually included in a standard upgrade and is available to all of our clients as and when they elect to do so.

Interested in a quick chat or an on-line demo ? Contact us today.

Marketing is complex, managing it doesn’t need to be

One of the largest financial advice networks in the UK has selected be the brand to help manage their advisers’ financial promotions. A different approach than the standard financial services client, they had an extra workflow configured to allow advisers to upload their marketing promotions for review and approval. The corporate office financial promotions team are alerted to review / approve upon submission. There are different SLAs for different tiers and all progress is quickly available on-line with user-specific dashboards.

Be the brand configured an extra work flow to meet the specific requirements for this process while still allowing other users to operate a standard workflow for internal, corporate use. The integrity of the core functionality is maintained for both sides of the operation and transparency for all workflows remains intact.

Contact us today for a quick chat or an on-line demo. See how we can help streamline your financial promotions process.

An award winning pensions provider has selected and gone live with bethebrand, our automated work flow / financial promotions software solution. With auto-enrolment deadlines fast approaching, this pensions provider elected to centralise their marketing processes for more efficient and transparent reviews and approvals. In under 4 months bethebrand was configured, deployed, users were trained and the system went live. With a Defaqto 5 Star Rating in auto-enrolment, we are proud to welcome them as another member of our elite client base. To find out how bethebrand can help you, please Contact us or ring us on 020 7199 0369.

From kick-off through to UAT and going live - 4 months flat. Our newest client has deployed bethebrand during one of their busiest seasons. Three core marketing teams, various external agencies and a complex corporate structure made this an especially quick turnaround. An intense penetration test performed by their Global IT department was done and our newest client is off and running with bethebrand. Another happy client on the books.

A global leader in customer engagement and loyalty solutions has selected bethebrand to create and deliver products and services that strengthen brand relationships and increase overall customer profitability. Helping clients across a broad range of sectors, this outsourcing client will use bethebrand to manage all of their clients' financial promotions. By managing compliance, legal and marketing stakeholders early in the workflow, the asset can be sent to their client for approval after all internal comments have been incorporated. A full audit trail is maintained which streamlines communications for all parties. Another big win for bethebrand ! With over 1,200 employees offering services in 17 countries, this is a great start to a long-term relationship.

Our latest client has operations in London, Dundee and Aberdeen. With two legal entities and one central in-house creative team, segregation of duties and full audit trails were key factors in selection. The on-line Dashboard shows a personalised view of tasks currently outstanding and a few clicks shows the entire workflow - tasks, people / teams assigned, expected completion dates, etc. Traffic managing becomes easy with the Re-Assign function to keep the workflows as streamlined as possible. As the first new client on Version 2, they are keeping our marketing momentum at the forefront and our software cutting edge.

The parent of a long-standing client has chosen the Asset Store from be the brand experience to centralise logos, brand guidelines and other marketing materials. Self-registering all users on an as-needed basis,new functionality and ease of integration with other subsidiaries made the decision relatively simple. Full customisation of Asset Data, the powerful search engine and the ability to house virtually any type of file were key decision points as well.

Another Financial Services client win as a leading UK insurance provider selects bethebrand. With a large base of existing clients and an aggressive growth prediction, the need for a streamlined marketing tool was paramount. The centralised approach helps to ensure that creative, stakeholder, legal and compliance teams can easily integrate the brief, review, approval and publishing of all marketing materials, including customer facing letters and client proposals.

A leading savings and investments company has launched our brand asset management solution. First on board is the internal communications team who use creative templates to reduce art work costs while centralising brand collateral in an asset store and image library.

More details to follow, but another US based, Fortune 500 technology firm has joined our growing ranks. Along with Citrix and VMware, be the brand experience continues to gain ground in this dynamic, game-changing sector.

Following a successful pilot project, a leading health care provider has fully deployed be the brand's marketing resource solution in the UK to bring their marketing supply chain together in one on-line collaborative work space. Marketing communications and financial promotions are streamlined with the creation, review, approval and archiving of brand and marketing assets.

A leading UK annuity provider has gone live with bethebrand. As a marketing resource management tool, the solution centralises all marketing collateral on-line, manages the asset life cycle, reviews and approvals. Automating next review dates, version control and archiving for financial promotions delivers speed and control.

Sovereign Housing have implemented the Cre-art solution to help them maintain current levels of communications being generated but with a reduced resource capacity.

Communications experts are able to retain brand and tone of voice control. User created communications go through an approval loop before the solution releases unwatermarked communication items. The solution is being used to create posters, leaflets, information packs,newsletter etc.

After a rapid deployment and some intensive training sessions in Johannesburg the South African global financial services disruptor, Discovery, is now live using.

Our latest deployment, at a leading UK Financial Service challenger brand, has been completed with a successful launch.

Essex Council are piloting Cre-art to create low cost, on brand communications for public facing events- with over 40 users involved in the pilot.

Great news, be it a little late; Dunnhumby are now live using the system to manage the digital content creation and delivery.

Scottish Life have become the latest leading player in the financial services sector to select be the brand experience as their partner for deploying a Financial Promotion lifecycle management system.

This further cements our position as clear market leaders in the provision of Marketing Resource Management (MRM) technology to the UK Financial Services industry

Case study to follow.

National Savings & Investments goes live with PhinPro, our Financial Promotion lifecycle management system.

National Savings & Investments also adds to our expanding list of Government credentials with the Environment Agency already having been live for over a year; reflecting our ability to offer demonstrable benefits to Government clients.

Case study to follow.

Following the launch of our PhinPro product we are pleased to have ended 2008 on a high with three new client wins in December. The clients continue to demonstrate that PhinPro is the strongest marketing automation solution for Financial Services. All three wins followed extensive tender processes during which we were evaluated against others; and won.

Further details will be released during 2009.

The UK's leading ethical financial services group has selected be the brand experience to create and deploy a large-scale marketing resource management system. The customised system (alf), caters for Co-operative Bank, Co-operative Insurance and Smile Bank, and provides a robust and auditable process for managing the development and use ofall marketing materials. The system is customised to suit the size and complexity of CFS’s organisational processes and supply chain, and also includes a centralised asset store from which the latest versions of all marketing materials can be accessed.

The system places a particular emphasis on ensuring compliance with FSA regulations during the approval process, and key anticipated benefits include greater control and visibility, reduced lead times, faster signoff and less document circulation. Other benefits result from increasing the value realised from brand assets, and reducing the costs associated with creating and updating them.

CFS has recently undergone a large restructure and alf is a key part of their new way of working. The transformation was a collaborative effort involving a number of parties, including be the brand experience.

be the brand experience provided full training for all users, who ranged from Compliance and Marketing to Legal, Technical and Business Management. be also successfully integrated multiple design and print agencies into the final solution and had them fully trained prior to going live. The system was successfully launched late February 2008, following a well-executed pilot run.

"We are delighted that CFS chose be the brand experience to help them manage the process for creating, approving and storing their marketing and communications materials and we are proud to be working with the market leader in ethical FS products"

Jes Ongley, be the brand experience

About Co-operative Financial Services (CFS)

With some 6.5 million customers, Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) is a leading provider of car insurance, mortgages, current accounts, home and contents insurance, credit cards, life assurance, personal loan and pensions. CFS was formed in 2002 to bring The Co-operative Bank, Smile and the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) together, and has developed a reputation for providing quality products and services and leading the way on ethics and the environment.

About be the brand experience

Be the brand experience is a leading provider of Marketing Resource Management technology (MRM). Be the brand experience enables clients to achieve more by developing effective, affordable custom-built technology solutions that empower users to better manage marketing workflows, brand assets and suppliers, resulting in lower costs, lower lead times and greater brand consistency and compliance. For more information, please contact info@be-thebrand.com.

The leading public body for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales has selected be the brand experience to create and deploy a centralised online brand asset management solution across their supply chain. The system will not only manage the development and use of key brand resources, but will also empower people to generate brand consistent marketing materials using templates.

Key benefits of the system include reducing the costs associated with developing and updating brand assets, increasing the utilisation of and value realised from key brand resources, and strengthening brand consistency. It will also free up design resources to focus on more creative tasks. From October 2007, a user base exceeding two hundred have been using the system with great success.

"We are excited that the Environment Agency selected us after a comprehensive competitor review. They are a fantastic client and we are very much looking forward to working together"

Adam Hainsworth (CEO), Be the Brand Experience

"Our Brand Bank system is a fantastic way to manage our brand. It means that our assets are up-to-the-minute and everyone works to the same standards. And our templates make for flexible, easy and cost-effective communications."

Margaret Gladstone, The Environment Agency

Who is the Environment Agency?

The Environment Agency is the leading public body for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales. They work to ensure that the environment is looked after by everyone, so that tomorrow's generations inherit a cleaner, healthier world.

UIA has deployed a new customised marketing resource management solution to improve marketing efficiency and help keep marketing campaigns in line with financial regulations. The deal was signed with be the brand experience, a services provider firm.

Brandstore will enable UIA to co-ordinate direct mail, advertising and digital marketing campaigns, improve approval processes and keep complete, easily accessible, electronic audit trails for regulatory compliance purposes.

"We were impressed with the functionality of be the brand's MRM solution," said Damian Reilly, head of marketing at UIA. "The tool gives us the ability to electronically co-ordinate all parties involved in the marketing campaign process...

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