Background:
When Data Impact and FoxIntelligence were acquired by NielsenIQ (NIQ), it became essential to align their branding with NIQ’s identity while preserving their distinct, youthful, and engaging voice. The challenge was to create social post templates that reflected NIQ’s structured and professional brand while incorporating the dynamic and colorful essence of Data Impact and FoxIntelligence.
NIQ's social design visual language is structured, appropriate to their brand legacy, but we wanted something more dynamic.
Objective:
To develop a set of social post templates for NIQ for Digital Commerce that:
Maintain a youthful, fun, and fresh visual identity.
- Adhere to NIQ’s brand guidelines, including the use of its signature elements.
- Integrate key visual elements from Data Impact and FoxIntelligence.
- Offer flexibility to ensure a varied and engaging LinkedIn presence.
- Are easily replicable in PowerPoint for internal stakeholders outside the core team.
Carousels remain NIQ for Digital Commerce's preferred format of content, and so templates needed to be able to stand alone as single images or perform in a carousel with a visual hook, urging the user to click through the content.
The previous Data Impact by NIQ templates (transitional branding during the acquisition) that utilised the NIQ brand colours and font but were not yet structured enough to be fully cohesive to the parent brand.
Design Approach:
Working closely with a brand head at NIQ to maintain brand consistency, we crafted new templates for single posts and carousels that balance structure and creativity. The design approach included:
- NIQ Brand Integration: Utilizing NIQ’s signature circles and structured layouts to ensure consistency.
- Data Impact Influence: Incorporating cut-out photos and buttons to maintain the punchy personality and integrity of the Data Impact brand beyond the integration.
- Flexibility & Variety: Providing multiple template options in a variety of colourways to prevent monotony on LinkedIn feeds while ensuring brand alignment. Colour is used by NIQ fairly reliably, often alternating between the bright and dark blues of the brand with highlights of colour, whereas in NIQ for Digital Commerce, it is often provided with context of significance or symbolism (eg, a post about organic food may be green).
- Usability for Stakeholders: Designing templates that can be easily replicated in PowerPoint, edited and used by teams across NIQ, fostering broader adoption and brand consistency.
The four primary colourways, predefined by NIQ, adapted to create a wide range of templates.
Outcome:
The resulting social post templates successfully bridged the gap between NIQ’s corporate brand and the dynamic personalities of Data Impact and FoxIntelligence. They provide a visually engaging yet structured format that can be widely used across different applications, ensuring a cohesive brand presence on LinkedIn for NIQ while maintaining the fresh and fun tone that sets NIQ for Digital Commerce apart.
This project not only enhanced NIQ’s digital commerce communication strategy but also empowered internal teams with accessible and adaptable design tools, reinforcing brand identity across all content shared.