Design bonanza for financial matters

Siebert Head has redesigned packaging for the Strepsils throat lozenge range. The new design is being rolled out across Europe.

New designs of literature for marketing financial services are now in use following changes in regulations from the Securities and Investments Board.

Bamber Forsyth’s work for Sun Alliance Life & Pensions and The Small Back Room’s designs for Scottish Mutual are two examples of the hundreds of new literature systems now on the market.

London consultancy Giant has worked on literature for clients including Guardian Financial Services, NFU Mutual and NatWest Life. Director Mark Rollinson says the key feature has been a “shift away from product brochures to needs-related brochures”.

The regulation changes, which came into effect this month, have the aim of giving more detailed disclosure to customers.

The Small Back Room was appointed by Scottish Mutual after an eight-way credentials pitch led to a three-way paid creative pitch. The consultancy has designed new brand identities, a corporate style and, to date, 70 items of literature.

The group’s managing director Ian Stewart says: “The design, featuring an image area derived from the eye of Scottish Mutual’s stag logo, creates a unique format in which specially commissioned photographs are carried.”

Bamber Forsyth senior consultant Anne McCrossan says Sun Alliance “has taken the disclosure bull by the horns” and done far more than the bare minimum necessary to meet the SIB regulations in the more than 500 items it has so far redesigned.