Revolutionising Ashurst's Brand

Challenge:

In 2012, Ashurst merged with Blake Dawson Waldron, creating one of the world's largest law firms with 1,600 lawyers across 27 offices. The firm faced three significant challenges:

Brand Relaunch: Ashurst needed to reposition itself as a global brand, highlighting its expanded expertise in energy & resources, infrastructure, and financial services.
IT Infrastructure: The firm recognised the potential operational and financial benefits of integrating disparate active directories and content management systems.
Process Redesign: With content creators scattered globally, a streamlined process was essential for content creation, governance, and compliance.

Approach:

Collaborating closely with Ashurst's multidisciplinary and multinational team, overseen by the firm's CMO, I provided consultancy to develop a blueprint for a new content management platform. This platform integrated data feeds from their active directory.

I conducted a series of workshops to define the content management approach, ensuring personalisation based on user geography, industry, and sector relevance. Working alongside user experience designers, software engineers, and business analysts, we delivered standardised templates for content delivery.

Role: Content Design

Client: Ashurst

Agency: Sapient Razorfish

Research:

The research phase involved understanding Ashurst's global operations, their unique challenges, and the expectations of their diverse client base. We also delved into industry best practices and emerging trends in legal services.

Solution:

Our solution involved creating a robust content management platform that allowed for seamless integration with the active directory. We developed templates for content delivery, established tone of voice guidelines, implemented a governance process within the CMS, and designed an information architecture and taxonomy to enhance content organisation.

Impact:

The transformation had a profound impact on Ashurst:

The brand relaunch successfully positioned Ashurst as a global legal leader with expertise in key sectors.
Streamlined IT infrastructure led to improved operational efficiency and cost savings.
The redesigned content creation process facilitated collaboration across global teams, ensuring compliance and consistency.

Key Takeaways:

This project highlighted the importance of aligning brand identity, IT infrastructure, and content creation processes for a global law firm. It demonstrated that a cohesive approach can enhance brand reputation, operational efficiency, and client satisfaction.

Tools & Technologies:

The project utilised a range of tools and technologies, including content management systems, active directory integration, and collaborative software for global workshops.

Team Collaboration:

Close collaboration with Ashurst's multidisciplinary team, including user experience designers, software engineers, and business analysts, was crucial to project success.

Conclusion:

The successful transformation of Ashurst's brand, IT infrastructure, and content creation processes positioned the firm as a global legal leader, ensuring operational efficiency and client-centric content delivery. This project serves as a testament to the impact of strategic alignment in the legal sector.