Citadel & Citadel Securities Websites
1
Background
In 2020 Citadel had found itself in the middle of much public discourse. With their reputation being challenged and an overarching lack of public understanding for both companies, Citadel approached Code and Theory with the ask of humanizing its story and building the infrastructure needed to share it.
To do so, Code and Theory would need to solve the core challenge of identifying how the two firms— Citadel and Citadel Securities— are the same and where they should be meaningfully different in both look and feel as well as site structure and information. The updated website experiences would be needed to express the evolution of the two brands and their unique stories, engage and serve priority audiences like talent, and leverage data and research to inform decisions.
2
Strategy
Rooted in data and research to inform all decision making, we started by identifying storytelling opportunities and how to deliver them through the site system. We optimized site architecture to reflect audience needs and tested the navigation to ensure usability and intuitiveness. Today, using an updated SEO framework and a new editorial strategy, we are working to strengthen the taxonomy to improve findability across both sites.
3
Results
To strike the balance of “related but different” between both firms we then focused on developing new digital visual identities for both Citadel and CitSec. The design process included the design, copywriting, and development of each page. We ensured executive stakeholder and business owner buy-in by socializing our work and process at each major milestone. The website work was the gateway to proving our value as a strategic partner. Through this work, we have expanded our partnership with Citadel to all brand, marketing, and audience work.
Related But Different
- 2 sites — Showcasing the distinct look and feel of each brand
- 17 templates — Shared page content specifically designed for each brand
- 35 components — A library of component variations to establish unique elements for each brand
Engage audiences, Encourage action
We designed the sites to create more opportunities for users to take action (apply, like or share content, navigate to more information, etc.) and encourage them to visit multiple pages – make it easy to navigate between sections to get information. Being thrust into the spotlight forced Citadel to re-examine how and where they tell their story. We expanded the scope of content to position the firm as both an employer of choice and industry leader.
