About The Client
Woodford Investment Management LLP was launched in 2014 and AndAnotherDay have worked with them from the outset. They are a high-profile investment fund company, whose transparent approach is a little different from the rest. Woodford needed a website that reflected that.
About The Project
AndAnotherDay was involved in everything from the initial business launch strategy meetings, which allowed us to gain a valuable understanding and insight into the business and its objectives, to most recently working on an internal project alongside their internal team.
The Public Website
Part of Woodford’s ethos was to communicate openly and frequently with their investors. This was done in multiple ways; firstly, we created an engaging blog where they could express Neil Woodford’s thoughts and communicate changes in the markets, and Woodford’s buying decisions. This was also supported by dedicated areas on the website where editorial pieces were published on specific subjects, such as healthcare and Brexit*.
Secondly, the performance data was made publicly accessible as it became available from various sources. The day-end prices are available on a daily basis, monthly for performance data, and quarterly for contribution data.
All releases, whether they were code or editorial-based, had to go through strict compliance regulations first. All the work produced was uploaded on 1 of 10 test environments and deployed via a process, which we helped implement. All changes were then signed off by our own dedicated QA team, before it made it’s way to the production site. Each deployment created an automatic snapshot of the site which could be resurrected easily if requested by the FCA.
The project included:
- Integrating with finance APIs from Morning Star, Financial Express and trading view
- Publication of data supplied by Northern Trust data via Excel spreadsheets
- Customisation of an open-source charting library
- Secure, deployments using Github and Jenkins to AWS infrastructure
- Integration into the Cloudinary digital asset management system
- Integration with Funnelback search solution
The Intranet
To help with the day-to-day running of the business, we helped Woodford introduce an intranet. It shared the same code-base as the public-facing site but was secured by the single sign-on system, Okta. The intranet integrates with different support systems and project tracking software, as well as workflow and team collaboration software.
The project included:
- Deployments using Github and Jenkins to AWS infrastructure
- Secured with Okta
- Integration with Jira
- Integration with ManyWho
- Integration with Slack
The Brand Site
Consistency is key. Woodford demanded a high-level of accuracy in their corporate message and persona. To help with this, we created a password-protected outward-facing brand site for employees and contractors, and to the press, so they could access logos, style guides, imagery and language rules.
The project included:
- Deployments using Github and Jenkins to AWS infrastructure
- Integration with Slack
- Integration with BrandFolder
The Sales Tool
By utilising the data imported into the public-facing website and the intranet, we created the ‘distribution storyboard’, which the sales team could take to prospective and existing clients to help explain their stance on investment decisions and the stocks they hold.
The project included:
- Integrating with finance APIs from Morning Star, Financial Express and data from the website
- Secure, deployments using Github and Jenkins to AWS infrastructure
- An iPad-ready interface and user experience
* When setting up Google Ads (Adwords, as it was then) we were the company who taught Google the word Brexit, as it wasn’t on their radar!
Our Approach
We work well with other agencies and in-house teams; we utilise social collaboration tools such as Slack to keep in daily contact with them and Github for version control. We work continuously to develop the needs of the marketing and design team by offering a balance between constructive evaluation of ideas and dedication in reaching project goals.
We assisted the Woodford team in developing new ways to represent their data. By using third-party data feeds and utilising APIs and charting tools, we enabled Woodford to be transparent to their investors. As more data becomes available, we are finding new and exciting ways to present it to the Woodford audience.
Woodford is a huge disrupter in the finance world, meaning they sometimes required more challenging aspects to their website, something that helped them stand out from their competitors. This meant that occasionally the AndAnotherDay team would partake in courses on finance, so they had a better understanding of the data they were dealing with and other times attended webinars and meetups to learn an entirely new programming language or skill.
I have worked closely with the AndAnotherDay team for almost five years now and I am genuinely impressed by their creativity and work ethic. Their output is consistently excellent – not just meeting a brief, but also providing solutions that are simple to use and that look fantastic. Perhaps most importantly, they are a great team – always a pleasure to work with.
Mitchell Fraser-Jones, Woodford Investment Management