Barclays News

How we launched an award-winning multi-channel newsroom for Barclays Group

the challenge

Speak Media was appointed as the result of a competitive pitch to develop a new editorial strategy and enhanced content platform for Barclays Bank Plc’s Group website.

Our team was tasked with two clear goals: to employ best-in-class editorial practice to articulate the corporate narrative in the most human, emotive way possible; and to make home.barclays as valuable and useful as possible, delivering tangible increases in visitor engagement, and enhancing brand perceptions.

what we did

Based on these over-arching objectives, we worked closely with key stakeholders across Barclays Group communications to develop a robust content strategy with clear, measurable goals, aligned to the corporate narrative introduced by new Group CEO Jes Staley.

We also implemented a new editorial process and supporting tools, embedding our team of writers and content producers alongside Barclays in-house editors to increase the frequency, volume, variety and breadth of content published on home.barclays – helping to shine a light on innovation and thought leadership within the business.

Meanwhile, working in parallel with our strategy and creative teams, our designers oversaw a refresh of the home.barclays homepage. They devised a new ‘news’ landing page to better showcase dynamic content, and create a more engaging, visually appealing editorial experience.

the outcome

The new-look site was launched in December 2016 to overwhelmingly positive feedback, and key content metrics (tracked in the first three months since the new workflow was established) scored higher than ever against a range of internal and external measures.

Monthly traffic to home.barclays has increased by 15% in the first 3 months versus the rolling 12-month average, and the new content has also helped to drive engagement across Barclays Group social channels – with LinkedIn engagement scores now well beyond the industry average.

Awards & recognition:

Corporate Content Awards 2019
Gold – ‘Best content campaign to assist with corporate positioning’

CorpComms Awards 2018
Nominated – ‘Best Use of Owned Media’

Digital Impact Awards 2017
Gold – 'Best Corporate Website'