VSA’s portfolio with CME Group spans two decades. From a foundational brand transformation to digital and environmental activation, we repositioned the 150-year-old institution from trading exchange to global financial leader through a bold brand identity and flexible digital system.
After CME Group acquired NEX Group in 2018, VSA worked with leadership to reimagine its brand architecture. We ultimately landed on an organizing principle centered on audience needs rather than business units or service areas. This brand architecture helped communicate CME Group’s new ability to service the entire trading journey for clients.
With this architecture in place, we reimagined the brand to reflect its technology and innovation capabilities—better enabling it to compete for new investors, attract top talent and advocate for transparent, responsible regulation.
VSA developed a design system that could reach across the exchange’s multiple audience touchpoints, adding a tech-forward look to environments, events, collateral systems, digital experiences and product-level marketing.
The backbone of the expression system is the grid, a visual structure inspired by the data and trading information that flow through CME Group. We also modernized the blues and added bright accents for a modern and energetic feel.
As part of our brand redesign for CME Group, we helped launch an updated website that felt just as dynamic and innovative as the company itself. From UX to design and content, VSA incorporated the new brand identity into the site and created digital pathways for thought leadership.
We also helped CME Group reimagine its mobile app to better engage institutional and retail traders. By envisioning new features and functionality, we transformed the app into a key business asset that would help increase investor confidence and offer a competitive edge—and ultimately keep customers engaged in the CME Group ecosystem.
Recently, CME Group decided to target a new type of trader: the much younger Gen Z crowd. Pulling from qualitative research conducted by VSA, we aligned on the insight that for many new traders, the idea of futures is scary and most are afraid to learn. By breaking futures down into a simple yes-and-no proposition, the idea was to offer a low-cost, low-risk on-ramp to the world of futures. VSA was then asked to come up with a creative campaign to launch these products.
Throughout the decades, we worked with CME Group on numerous category-leading global financial leadership events. These efforts included environmental design for the events themselves, as well as promotional assets.
In the face of emerging competition impinging on CME Group’s recruiting efforts, we launched the campaign “Where Futures Are Made.” Both an employer narrative and compelling ecosystem, this campaign was designed to attract and retain forward-thinking, top-notch talent that reflected the company’s culture of boundless ambition.
