BlackRock
Investing in their most valuable assets
by Kerry LaCoste
When I was first approached by a former colleague and client about working with her to brand a new education platform for BlackRock employees, I was thrilled. Then I learned even more about who BlackRock was, and the scope of the opportunity really set in. They are today the largest financial asset management company in the world: the Mt. Everest of their profession, you might say. Once I was briefed on the assignment and informed that continuous education was a cornerstone of their corporate culture, the intention was clear: BlackRock was investing in their most valuable assets, their people.
Many learning channels in need of consistency
We started by taking inventory of all current learning channels across BlackRock’s internal learning management system. It revealed lots of great content that was not consistently connected or formalized. Working closely with the BlackRock project team, we created an identity and branding system called the BlackRock Academies that would unite all current and future company academies.
The next phase involved a branded website for each academy on the existing LMS. My team and I utilized a family approach to the individual academy websites. Each design had its own look and feel but still fit within the overall branding system. This allowed for quick and easy updates to keep the site fresh for greater employee engagement.
Internal marketing for employees
Once the academy websites were launched, the goals shifted to increasing employee engagement. Simply supplying a formalized resource for continuous education would not be enough if employees were not aware of the resource and its benefits. One early marketing strategy was BlackRock Academies Week. Once each quarter, we created website banners, posters, in-office TV screen chyrons, badges and screen savers for use throughout the company intranet to promote awareness and inspire employees to engage the various eLearning resources. To measure the effectiveness, we partnered with the LMS software provider to pull weekly data reports on employee engagement. The data provided insight for future marketing efforts.
Academy Branding
eLearning Review
Identity Design
Academy Branding (6)
Website Design
Iconography
Engagement Marketing
Content Visualization
Design & Animation
Graphic Illustration
Website Design
Iconography
Storyboard Development
Copywriting
Video Editing
Animation
Music Direction
BlackRock Investment Academy engagement
The BlackRock Investment Academy (BIA) is one of their most important eLearning resources because of the company’s core business of financial asset management. The largest campaign we developed with this group was a series of training modules that would be mainly for employees but also accessible for select clients. Working with an elite financial training firm that developed the content on diverse financial subjects, my team and I reimagined the presentation of thirty-nine instructional learning videos. To get viewers engaged with complex subject matter, we created eye-catching visuals and animation with a storytelling approach in synchrony with the content narration.
When an updated version of the BIA website was being created to reflect new BlackRock global branding guidelines, we created a launch video to promote engagement with the new site. The goal was to highlight sections of the website by offering a glimpse of the content to pique learner interest. My team created a storyboard, established test animation key sequences and presented music options before creating the full video. Working with my extended creative team to build and assemble the pieces was highly rewarding and the client was very happy with the result.
“Kerry and his team have partnered on a variety of projects for the BlackRock Investment Academy since 2017. These include but are not limited to a customized showcase video, instructional learning videos and marketing thumbnails. Kerry is a trusted partner for creative direction and understands the complicated balance of staying within brand and guidelines while also providing an engaging learning experience for employees.”
Marianne Bellino Executive Leader, Learning and Educational Development, BlackRock