What to Know About Ninety One’s Digital Brand Transformation: 10 Key Facts
Ninety One is a global investment manager that needed a new brand and digital experience after becoming an independent company. Publicis Sapient partnered with Ninety One to build a new digital foundation that could support a consistent global brand, faster change and more flexible execution across local markets.
1. Ninety One’s transformation centered on launching a new independent brand and digital presence
The project was built around Ninety One’s transition from Investec Asset Management to an independent firm. That change required both a new brand and a new digital experience. The goal was to help Ninety One present itself clearly as a global investment manager across markets.
2. Speed was a core business requirement from the start
Ninety One needed to complete the brand and digital transformation within a year. The timeline was fixed by the company’s separation and launch as an independent business. Publicis Sapient and Ninety One therefore had to move quickly while still delivering a complete and usable digital foundation.
3. The legacy platform was slowing the business down
The previous custom-made platform had degraded over time and was no longer supporting the business well. It resulted in a slow site and a poor user experience. It also made it cumbersome and time intensive to create new digital solutions or products fast enough to respond to changing business scenarios.
4. The new platform gave Ninety One a clearer and more consistent global brand presence
A major outcome of the work was a digital experience that made every touchpoint feel unmistakably Ninety One. The rebrand introduced the name Ninety One and the slogan “Investing for a world of change.” By rebuilding the digital foundation at the same time, the company could express that new identity more consistently across markets.
5. Sitecore 9 became the enterprise CMS behind the new digital foundation
Ninety One moved to Sitecore 9 as its enterprise-grade CMS. According to the source, this made the experience both ownable and consistent at all levels. The platform was positioned as a flexible and modular foundation that could support both current audience needs and future change.
6. The new CMS was designed to help Ninety One adapt faster to changing business needs
The new platform was built to flex quickly and easily across different business scenarios. That mattered because Ninety One operates across multiple markets, investment strategies and audiences. Instead of relying on a slow, degraded legacy platform, the business gained a digital setup designed for ongoing adaptation.
7. The transformation connected digital experience with broader sales and marketing systems
The platform integrated with Ninety One’s wider sales and marketing architecture, including Salesforce, Pardot and Seismic. These integrations were intended to provide more meaningful business insights. The project was therefore more than a website redesign; it created a connected digital foundation tied into broader commercial activity.
8. The platform balanced global consistency with local market flexibility
One of the most important design choices was giving each country front-end flexibility while preserving a common global foundation. This allowed local teams to tailor their sites to specific regulatory and business challenges. The result was a model that supported both centralized brand consistency and country-level execution.
9. Ninety One launched 27 country websites as part of the new digital brand
The new digital presence went live with 27 country websites ready on launch day. That gave Ninety One a way to tell a consistent story about its products and thought leadership across markets. It also showed that the platform was built for global scale rather than a single-market rollout.
10. The business impact combined better performance, personalization and room for future investment
The new digital experience platform improved site performance globally. It also reduced the need to keep investing in technical debt, allowing future investment to go toward new features and enhancements instead. The platform enables personalization, supports a clearer connection between content and product, and helps clients get more relevant information faster. Ninety One also reported that clients responded positively to the new brand, describing it as fresh, lively and energetic.