XFMedia
/XFMedia
/Overview
XFMedia
XFMedia is China's leading diversified financial and entertainment media company, targeting the growing high net worth population across the nation. The company reaches its target audience via TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, and other distribution channels.
Services Rendered
01/ Customer Experience
02/ Production & Service Vision
03/ Key Messaging
04/ Identity & Positioning
05/ Visual Language & Art Direction
06/ Design Production & Execution
07/ Brand Messaging
08/ Brand Guidelines & Playbooks
09/ Content Strategy
10/ Photography
11/ Video Production
12/ 3D & Motion Graphics
13/ Copywriting
Opportunity
The XFMedia project was a large, long-term, and complex project. The XFMedia project required that I become a member of the executive team in Shanghai China. This represented a profound opportunity for me at this point in my career. The project brief required that I develop all aspects of the company’s brand in preparation for XFMedia’s NASDAQ IPO and beyond. The brief also required that the new XFMedia brand roll up all newly acquired companies into the brand’s attributes, develop all key messages, create a new-form vision reel to be presented to global investors, and to unify all brand touchpoints.
Approach & Solution
For XFMedia I created the entire corporate brand with the goal of launching all facets of the project on the date of the firm’s NASDAQ IPO in New York City. I essentially started with a blank sheet to worked from there. To accomplish this I set up four key overarching guidelines in addition to using my standard creative PERT charts and content development tools.
There were four key components in my approach to XFMedia:
One: Collaboration & Networking: I spend my initial months meeting all acquisition companies to build bridges and gather concerns. ideas, and insights. I begin to hire my team one-by-one during this phase of the project.
Two: Management Relations: I would then relay all information and designs back to the CEO, CFO, Board of Directors, and key private and institutional investors who were the individuals and groups that I directly reported to. During this phase of the project, I would then relay management concerns, ideas, and insights back to my team & stakeholders to create a positive creative feedback loop.
Three: Thought Leadership: I then gradually began a process of educating senior management, and all other stakeholders within the organization and newly acquired company, of the power of a unified brand we were co-creating together. By using an organized creative feedback loop, my team and I were able to guide the process while at the same time creating an inclusive development process.
Four: Brand Development: As the brand developed and the key individuals saw the progress we were making, the team and I began the development of the more daring aspects of the project - in particular, the development of our NASDAQ IPO Road Showreel. By remaining dedicated to our disciplined approach, we were able to take measured risks and create an awarding winning XFMedia “vision reel” as the foundation of our investor story platform.
Over the course of the project, my team and I created the XFMedia logomark, brand guidelines, key messages, investor story, IPO showreel, and launch event designs. We rolled up the brand language of all newly acquired subsidiaries into the parent company, conducted an extensive internal and external brand audit, and created/oversaw the buildout of the XFMedia Beijing headquarter designs. We created multiple sets of marketing collateral, developed advertising campaigns, created investor relations pitch decks, and consulted on all corporate communications initiatives.
OUTCOME
/Key Results
We succeeded on all fronts and the company listed with a $371M IPO - one of the largest IPOs of the year on NASDAQ and the first media company out of China ever to be listed on the U.S. based exchange. The IPO was completed just 15 months after I first walked into the XFMedia Shanghai office. We grew the business from under 10 employees to over 2,500 working in office around the world while maintain a clear brand direction and vision.
XFMedia Brand Guidelines
Brand guidelines developed for XFMedia and their subsidiaries.
XFMedia brand guidelines.
XFMedia IPO Road Show Reels
The team and I developed two XFMedia IPO Road Show Reels. The short form reel (top video) we created to play on the NASDAQ Tower in New York City. The long-form reel (bottom video) was placed at the start of each investor presentation. The long-form video’s voice over and music bed were both developed in-house under my direction.
XFMedia NASDAQ Tower Teaser Reel
XFMedia Global IPO Road Show Reel
NASDAQ IPO Behind the Scenes
Behind the scenes images from the XFMedia IPO on NASDAQ, New York City.
XFMedia IPO behind the scenes. NASDAQ New York City.
XFMedia IPO Prospectus Artwork
The team and I developed the artwork for the XFMedia IPO prospectus. This turned out to be a key part of the listing process.
XFMedia IPO prospectus artwork.
XFMedia Quiet Period & Live Websites
The team and I developed two different websites for the XFMedia launch. The first was a SOX compliant “quiet period” / pre-IPO website (white version). The second was a SOX compliant “live site” which launched on the day of the NASDAQ IPO.
XFMedia “quiet period” and “live” websites.
XFMedia Launch Event Beijing
Eight months after the successful NASDAQ IPO, the team and I designed and produced the firm’s global launch event in Beijing at the 798 Art Space in Beijing. The event represented the first of many physical domain interpretations of the XFMedia brand.
XFMedia global launch event design and production at Beijing’s 798 Art Space.
XFMedia Beijing Office Design
A few days after the XFMedia global launch event, we moved into the new Beijing headquarters. The team and I designed, produced, and oversaw the build-out of the office space.
XFMedia Beijing office design
XFMedia Office Computer Wallpaper Designs
We developed a series of animated desktop wallpapers for all XFMedia employees. Each color was representative of the color palette created for the core divisions of the company.
XFMedia computer desktop wall paper designs.
/Challenges
/Solutions
01/ Bridging cultural gaps. Mistrust of Chinese companies on Wall Street.
Because of long term experience of working and succeeding in multi-cultural business environments, I had a set of existing programs and materials from which to work off of. I also had long term professional working relationships with the CEO of the company and many key senior executives which helped pave the way towards efficiency and results. The key here was the development of a core set of mutually accepted principals.
02/ Creating universal key messages, and a unifying voice. Localizing these messages across multiple cultures.
We focused on principals rather than positions when developing and localizing the key messages and the unified voice of the brand. Our development process was transparent and open - even if this sometimes meant dealing with real cultural challenges.
03/ Some newly acquired Chinese companies were reluctant to change or modify their existing brands.
A few of XFMedia’s newly acquired companies had rich histories and were reluctant to change their ways to mold into the XFMedia brand. Using our open and inclusive approach helped smooth over entrenched positions in the interest of the greater good of the brand. This was a long and involved process that taught me many professional and life lessons along the way.
04/ Aggressive development timeline. No existing brand in place. No design, marketing, support staff in place. East / West pressure to succeed.
When I started working on the XFMedia project we literally had nothing in place. We also hard a target IPO listing date that was just over a year out from our start date. To add to the pressure, we were receiving incoming pressure from our large Chinese and Wall Street investors. By developing and maintaining a clear and detailed creative PERT production schedule, which all key parties had a say, we were able to keep all aspects of the XFMedia brand development on schedule and under budget.
XFMedia Marketing & Advertising
After the launch of the company, the team and I designed two different marketing and advertising campaigns for the company and its subsidiaries. With each design, all content was localized into their appropriate language for the part of the world the division was speaking to.
XFMedia Marketing Collateral - Set 1
XFMedia Marketing Collateral - Set 2
XFMedia Marketing Collateral - Posters
XFMedia Billboards
Photograph of a large scale XFMedia billboard in Hong Kong. We deployed many billboards in a similar scale across Asia and SE Asia.
XFMedia Billboard - Hong Kong
XFMedia Logomark
The XFMedia logomark was developed as a derivative design of parent company Xinhua Finance. The designs and graphics below show elements of our process.
XFMedia logomark design and development process.
XFMedia Supporting Graphics
A key element of the XFMedia brand was the development of a support supergraphic. The graphic was created to help visually support the design of the brand. The XFMedia supergraphic’s inspiration was derived from the motion and emotion of the traditional Chinese sleeve dance. The images below outline parts of our design and creative process.
XFMedia supergaphic design and production.
.WORK /XFMedia