National Research Group Website
Attracting New Customers and Recruits to a Company With Global Ambitions
Background
Founded in 1978, National Research Group provides market research and strategic consulting services to the entertainment industry. The company's research specialties include films, games, television, streaming and brand marketing, and it helps entertainment companies make informed decisions about the development, production and marketing strategy of their products.
The Challenge
NRG is headed in a new business direction that will increase its customer base and geographic reach, and Rhythm was tasked with a top-to-bottom website redesign to reflect that fresh focus. Our assignment included creating a new brand identity, visual style and logo, improving recruitment tools, and designing a more streamlined process for web page updates. We expected our work would improve the site’s less-than-stellar analytics and drive engagements and conversions as well.
SERVICES
Strategy, Content (Design, Copywriting), User Experience (UX) Design, Motion Graphics, Responsive Website Design and Development
LINKS
The Solution
Rhythm create a dynamic new website that clearly shows who NRG is now and where the company wants to go, creating a connective link between its media-centric past and a globally-focused future with a more diverse client base.
Reflecting Global Ambitions
As it pushes further into the international market, NRG continues to leverage its unique capabilities to extend a period of robust expansion – it has experienced healthy revenue increases and solid year-over-over growth since 2020.
The website redesign needed to reflect NRG’s global ambitions and new priorities with an approach that was sophisticated and confident yet personable and playful.
Humanizing Navigation
NRG’s tone of voice is clear: “Talk to our audience like they’re humans.” It was important for the site’s navigation to follow suit. So we simplified and streamlined the sitemap, devising a more friendly and welcoming naming scheme to match their verbal brand persona. The formal “About, Expertise, and Insights” evolved into the humanized “Who We Are, What We Do, and Our Thinking.”
We also aligned the navigation to better reflect NRG’s global ambitions—and its expansion beyond Entertainment—by giving equal weight to six industry verticals, including Lifestyle, Sports and Gaming. All are now prominently featured under the What We Do dropdown, which also provides a descriptive overview upon hover.
These collective enhancements have vastly improved the navigational experience, making the site far more approachable and engaging to visitors.
Shifting Priorities
It was crucial for the reimagined NRG website to showcase a wider range of services at the intersection of content, technology and culture. It also needed to emphasize a directional shift from consumer-centric to B2B.
A parallel goal was improving revenue, driving engagement and conversions to meet NRG’s ambitious growth target.
The site needed to appeal to potential clients, especially those outside the entertainment industry – technology, sports, brand strategy, culture – without alienating existing clients.
Having Some Fun
Aligning with NRG’s vibrant brand identity, we took imaginative and even playful approaches to help distinguish it from the pack.
“We know what we do is serious, but we also don’t take ourselves seriously. We believe in talking to our audience like they’re humans.”
— NRG Tone of Voice.
Rhythm guided the vibrant and inviting illustration style, adding small but dynamic touches, and helped bring copy to life with micro-animations and other elements.
Meeting the Recruitment Challenge
NRG identified potential employees as another main targeted audience, and their needs and expectations had to be considered as well. People are at the core of NRG, and given the universally felt pandemic/great resignation strains, natural growth needs and shifting talent expectations, recruitment remains a challenge at NRG and throughout the industry.
The redesigned Careers page places a stronger emphasis on the values of the company, with candid photos of employees rather than stock images. It serves the dual purpose of creating a talent magnet while reinforcing the NRG story.
Thank you so much for the hard work to put this together. The website looks great and we are thrilled to have it live!
Alicia Driscoll, SVP, Business Transformation at NRG
