Close Brothers, a financial services group, needed a cohesive digital strategy to support multiple business units, each with its own audience, branding, and conversion goals. With an estate of 20+ web applications—all hosted on Acquia Cloud Hosting—the Close Brothers Asset Finance team sought to maintain brand consistency, improve SEO, and ensure ease of management across five primary sites with a lean marketing team.
The Challenge
Close Brothers Asset Finance manages five unique websites, each tailored for different audiences and local markets across the UK, Ireland, and Germany. Each site had distinct branding and content strategies, which meant they required individualized SEO, security, and brand alignment, as well as regular updates to stay optimized and competitive. Balancing the need for brand consistency and technical reliability, the challenge was to provide a solution that would allow the team to maintain high standards across the board—without requiring frequent, costly redevelopments.
Our Approach
Working collaboratively with the Close Brothers team, we developed a low-code, scalable web platform that enhanced their agility and aligned all sites within a unified brand experience. Here’s how we tackled the project:
1. Multi-Site Platform Transition
We migrated five key sites from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 within eight months, ensuring minimal downtime and consistent functionality, while upgrading each to meet current usability, security, and SEO standards.
2. Low-Code Pattern Library for Agility
To give the marketing team control over content updates and messaging, we implemented a low-code pattern library that allows them to create, test, and refine site elements across different campaigns without needing technical support. This provided the flexibility to maintain unique site identities while staying on-brand.
3. Enhanced Brand Consistency
By unifying design elements and integrating shared brand guidelines across the multi-site estate, we achieved a seamless user experience across all five domains. This ensured a consistent brand feel while still allowing tailored content and user paths specific to each audience.
Testimonial
“Working with Close Brothers on this multi-site transformation has been a rewarding experience in tackling complex, large-scale digital needs. Developing a platform that balanced brand consistency with the unique demands of each business unit required a true partnership. Together, we built a flexible, low-code solution that empowers their lean marketing team to manage and optimize multiple sites independently—creating agility without sacrificing quality or cohesion.”
Julian Tedstone
Managing Director, Coherence
The Outcome
Our partnership delivered a cohesive and dynamic multi-site solution, winning Platinum and Gold awards at the 2020 dotCOMM Awards for the SME Data Hub. Close Brothers’ marketing team is now equipped with a robust platform, capable of adapting quickly to campaign needs while maintaining a consistent user experience across all sites.
About
At Coherence, we specialize in building digital solutions that provide agility and scalability without compromising quality. Our work with Close Brothers reflects our commitment to crafting user-centered platforms that empower clients to manage and grow their digital presence efficiently and effectively.
