Brand Consolidation in FSI: Using Animation to Align Messaging
Liberty Mutual is folding Safeco into a single brand. John Hancock became Manulife John Hancock. Brand consolidations create a flood of communication needs. Animation is the fastest way to keep up.
Why is brand consolidation a content problem?
Every brand consolidation in financial services creates a wave of communications work. Liberty Mutual is consolidating its Safeco personal lines brand into a single Liberty Mutual identity starting April 2026. John Hancock Investments and John Hancock Retirement transitioned to Manulife John Hancock branding in April 2025. First Citizens Bank extended its brand across CIT business verticals in late 2023. NCR Atleos spun out of NCR Corporation in 2023 as a new standalone brand.
In each case, the underlying business is largely the same. What changes is the visual identity, the way the company describes itself, and the way staff, partners, and customers refer to it. None of that is technical work. All of it is communication.
What does a brand consolidation actually need to communicate?
Three audiences. Three messages.
Staff need to know what the new brand stands for
Not just the logo. The new positioning, the new way of describing the business, the elements of the old brand that are being kept, and the elements that are being retired. Staff are the first ambassadors for the new identity.
Partners need to know what changes for them
Distributor agreements, technology integrations, co-branded materials, support channels, contact lists. The brand change is rarely just visual at the partner level. Each partner-facing system has touchpoints that need updating.
Customers need to know they are still in the same relationship
For most customers, the brand change is the only thing they notice. They want reassurance that their account, their policy, their relationship continues unchanged. The visual identity may be different, but the substance is not.
Why animation works better than live action for brand rollouts
Three reasons:
Animation is brand
The new visual identity has to be the protagonist of the rollout. Animated video lets the new logo, color palette, typography, and motion language do the work. A live action video puts a person on screen instead.
Animation scales across audiences
Same illustrations, three voiceovers, three scripts. You can produce a unified visual rollout across staff, partners, and customers without three separate shoots. The shared visual language reinforces "this is one brand" at every touchpoint.
Animation is faster to update
Brand consolidations rarely happen in a single moment. They roll out across regions, business lines, or product families over 6 to 18 months. Each phase needs new communications. Animation lets you update voiceover, swap individual scenes, and republish without re-shooting.
The brand consolidation video set
Brand introduction video
60 to 90 seconds. Animated. The hero piece. What is the new brand, what does it stand for, and what does it mean for the customer. This is the video that lives on the homepage, the LinkedIn announcement post, and the email banner. Get this right first. Everything else extends it.
Staff orientation video
2 to 3 minutes. Animated. The deeper version of the brand intro, with positioning, narrative, and what staff should remember. Embed in the internal portal. Required viewing for everyone.
Partner explainer videos
One 60-second video per major partner segment. Brokers, agents, distributors, technology partners. Each one addresses the specific changes that audience cares about. Use the same visual style as the hero video.
Customer reassurance video
45 to 60 seconds. Animated. The shortest of the set. Confirm what continues, show the new brand, direct to the help center for specifics.
Phase-specific updates
30 to 60 seconds each. Animated. Use this as the brand consolidates across business lines, regions, or products. Same visual style. New scripts. These are the videos most teams forget to plan, then have to rush.
How fast can a brand consolidation video set be produced?
For a 5-video set produced together with a single visual style: 3 to 4 weeks from kickoff. That includes the style development phase. After that, each subsequent video in the same style takes 7 to 10 business days end-to-end.
The key is to produce the style kit once, not five times. Most teams that overspend on brand consolidation video are redoing the foundational work for each new video instead of reusing the style. For an example of a marketing team running this kind of production efficiently, see the Dual North America case study.
How do you handle compliance and legal sign-off?
The brand consolidation videos do not usually carry the same regulatory weight as product disclosures, but they do need legal review for trademark, naming convention, and disclaimer accuracy. Build legal review into the script stage, not the post-production stage. That keeps the production timeline tight.
For more on getting video through compliance in financial services generally, see our compliance-ready guide.
How do you measure success?
Two short-term metrics, two long-term:
- Short-term: video completion rates internally (target 70%+) and partner help-desk inquiries about the brand change (lower is better)
- Long-term: brand recognition surveys at 3 and 6 months, and search volume for the new brand name vs the old
Where to start
If you have a brand consolidation upcoming or in flight, lock the visual style with one production partner first. Brief the hero video and the staff orientation video against that style. Roll out partner and customer videos in the second wave. Plan the phase-specific updates from week one. Learn more about animation production at scale, see how corporate video trends have shifted in 2026, or how Shootsta supports financial services and insurance.
