Bath financial services software provider Altus Consulting has teamed up with a creative agency to introduce a new brand identity and website as part of its growth plan.
Altus called in Chippenham-based Milk & Tweed to work on the brief, which follows a period of expansion at the business.
Founded in Bath in 2005 by a small group of friends on a mission to speed up financial services with superior technology, Altus was acquired by Canadian software company Equisoft in 2021.
It now has more than 120 employees at its showpiece office in Bath’s regenerated Quays office district, from where it supplies specialist consultancy services and market-leading automation software to clients in the investment, pensions, insurance and wealth management sector.
Altus CEO Martyn Evans said its continued growth meant it needed a new website to better reflect its national and international brand and ambitions.
“We are a specialist financial services management consultancy with deep and broad expertise in investments, insurance and banking and we wanted to make those things clear on the website,” he said.
“It was really important that we had a website that clearly articulated who we are, what we do and what we’re all about and we think we’ve achieved that.”
When its marketing team met with Milk & Tweed, which specialises in website, brand and logo design and digital marketing, they were immediately taken with its ideas.
Altus Marketing Executive Helen Whitehurst added: “We were really impressed with the design concepts they delivered for us because they had understood our brand, vision and values, and culture and came up with a design that reflected these elements.
“We were very clear we didn't want a website that looked too corporate with images that were meaningless.
“We are challenging the traditional consulting model and wanted our teams’ collaborative and uniquely visual approach to be strongly reflected in the new site.”
The refreshed branding makes effective use of the iconic ‘A’ in Altus’s name across the new website.
“It wasn't very prominent on our old site but Milk & Tweed built it into the design layout of the new one. Now when you land on the site it has a real brand identity that is really clear,” said Helen.
Milk & Tweed migrated more than 1,000 insight articles from the old site across to the new, enhancing functionality so they are easier to find and converting many more from PDF format to on-page content to make them more searchable online.
Milk & Tweed head of design Jamie Lawton said: “This project was a true collaboration and it was a joy to work with the team at Altus.
“We had two key aims in terms of design and functionality. We wanted to elevate the company’s visual style, creating a clear and recognisable look that could extend from the new website across their digital marketing and branded materials.
“Secondly, as thought leaders in financial services, there was an obvious need to make it easy for Altus’ visitors to discover relevant articles and insights.
“Altus has some huge names from the world of finance as clients and the new website holds up against any of theirs.”
Milk & Tweed, which was established in 2013, works with clients across a range of sectors, including Goughs solicitors, mobile payments platform Fonix and Carl Todd osteopathy and physiotherapy clinics.
The agency has been on a growth path of its own in recent years having merged with Boson Media from Bradford on Avon in 2021 and acquired Brighton agency Huxley last year.
Pictured below: Milk and Tweed head of design Jamie Lawton, left, with web designer Sam Jones and Altus Consulting operations director Cat Atack
