Closing Affairs is the flagship product from Inex Inc., a company serving Canada’s funeral industry. Closing Affairs is a guidebook to assist executors in settling the estates of loved ones. Available as in hard copy and online, Closing Affairs is sold via funeral homes to the recently bereaved. Inex had identified an opportunity to increase sales by expanding beyond the funeral industry into new verticals including personal finance, and were targeting financial planners as new channel partners.
76design’s goal was to provide a focused strategic platform that is clear, compelling and consistent, to unify and build on the value of the Closing Affairs brand to expand across industry verticals. The platform would be leveraged to introduce a credible brand in providing up-to-date guidance and support to a whole new market.
The research that guided us in this task including stakeholder interviews with Inex executives and with professionals who provide financial advice for estate planning. We conducted a full review of all Closing Affairs marketing communications materials and analysed five comparator products.
Once our research was complete we used our brand definition framework to articulate a clear, distinct and compelling brand strategy. The brands’ vision of helping people fulfil an important duty during one of life’s most challenging times, and mission to empower executors by supporting them in navigating the complex journey of settling an estate were key in developing a new, fresh brand that built upon the legacy of Closing Affairs. ‘Inex Insight’ is a brand that is trustworthy, knowledgeable, pioneering and effective.
We brought the brand positioning to life through a carefully crafted visual identity using three major criteria: readability to make it effective, colour to speak to its pioneering quality and hierarchy to underline its trustworthiness as a knowledge source.