Private wealth firm CIG Capital Advisors partnered with SPARK to revamp their brand strategy and website to convey elegance and expertise.
Based in Southfield, Michigan, CIG Capital Advisors is a private wealth firm that manages all aspects of a client’s financial life—from investment and tax planning to legacy and estate planning. They primarily serve high-net-worth individuals and business owners who expect a premium service from their financial advisors.
But for a long time, their website didn’t reflect that.
When Tracey Cox joined CIG as its new Head of Marketing, her first major project was tackling the brand and website, and she partnered with SPARK to get it done.
A Premium Service with an Outdated Look
The biggest challenge was a simple, stark mismatch. The firm’s digital front door didn’t match the high-end financial services provided to its clients.
“The site, quite frankly, just looked outdated,” Tracey explains. “The pictures, the imagery, the styling, everything about it felt outdated. It didn’t scream luxury service brand.”
The CIG team needed a brand that spoke to their ideal clients. Beyond the visuals, the old site was also:
- Too Niche: It was heavily focused on medical practice owners. The CIG team wanted to appeal to a broader audience of lawyers, C-suite executives, and other high-net-worth individuals.
- Difficult to Use: The user experience and site navigation weren’t intuitive. It was also plagued by outdated content and links that didn’t work.
Ready to make a change, the CIG team evaluated three different companies for the project but ultimately chose SPARK. The decision was based on a strong recommendation from a trusted partner and the advantage of working with a local Michigan-based company. The CIG team also wanted to move fast on the project and appreciated SPARK’s approach to collaboration and stakeholder alignment.
“It was great to be able to meet face to face and really collaborate to make it an impactful relationship,” Tracey adds.
Starting with a Brand SLAM to Create a Stronger, Simpler Identity
Given CIG’s tight timeline, SPARK’s accelerated Brand SLAM workshop was the perfect fit. “I think it was good given the nature of our business,” Tracey notes. “We wanted to move quickly, and so having something a little bit more drawn out didn’t make sense.”
The Brand SLAM helped the CIG team align on messaging, fonts, and, most critically, colors.
“Our secondary colors were teal and bright yellow,” Tracey recalls of the old brand. “When we thought of ourselves, we wanted to speak of luxury and elegance.”
The SPARK team presented three distinct options, and CIG landed on a powerful new direction. “We changed the color of the logo to one color, a navy blue, that stands strong on its own,” Tracey says. “Simplicity speaks volumes.”
With the new, sophisticated brand foundation, the SPARK team designed and built a website that was clean, modern, and user-focused. The new site features:
- A simplified, seamless navigation bar
- Consolidated content that trimmed away unnecessary pages and focuses on CIG’s two core services: wealth management and business advisory.
- Subtle, high-end design elements that mirror the clients they serve and their lifestyles
- Small, thoughtful features that improve the client experience, like a client login button that’s easy to find
When asked about her favorite feature on the new website, Tracey quickly called out the new homepage. “That’s my favorite page for sure,” Tracey remarks. “When you’re thinking about how to give the feeling of luxury instantly, I think the top with the sailboat really conveys that.”
After Launch: A 25% Website Traffic Spike and a Newfound Sense of Pride
The new brand and website launched in early September, and the impact was immediate.
“We’ve gotten some really great feedback from clients and potential prospects,” Tracey shares. “We also saw a spike in traffic of about 25% right at the launch.”
But for Tracey, the most significant change was internal.
“I think people feel excitement when they see a brand growing and changing. And I think that that’s inspired folks internally to really feel proud to be part of CIG as well.”
This momentum was exactly what CIG needed. Just one month after the site launch, Tracey’s team also launched a brand-new, integrated client portal. “There’s just a lot of great energy internally, our clients are really engaged, and we’ve been getting referrals,” she says.
For Tracey, who has managed many agency relationships in her career, a key part of the project’s success was SPARK’s communication.
“Being responsive is table stakes. But not every company does that, and I think SPARK does a really good job with that,” Tracey states.
Visit the new CIG Capital Advisors website at www.cigcapitaladvisors.com to explore their wealth management, asset management, and business advisory services.
Do you need help with a brand refresh and website redesign? Reach out to the SPARK team today!
