Mortgage Choice Newsletter Design

Mortgage Choice writes almost one in every 20 Australian residential loans via its network of over 436 franchises and 628 loan consultants. Indeed, it has helped more than 200,000 customers achieve the great Australian dream of home ownership and earlier this year secured the Australian Banking and Finance Award of Best Mortgage Broker for the third time in four years.

With such a large client base being serviced by its network of franchisees, the company's quarterly client newsletter Mortgage Choices is an important element of their referral marketing program. When the newsletter came up for redesign, the selection of the design agency was an important decision.

“Mortgage Choice is in the business of helping consumers make informed choices when they are making what is probably the largest investment of their lives. Our previous experiences with Pictogram were very positive as we've found them easy to work with, highly professional and above all reliable. We made our decision based on their reputation in the market and the quality of their work. We worked with Pictogram to review our organisational requirements and while the existing newsletter had met its original requirements, it was time for a fresh look and feel rather like a kitchen table which has seen better days,” says Lynne Wyatt, Head of Marketing, Mortgage Choice Limited.

Pictogram took the newsletter’s inconsistent type and spacing, reviewed the existing colour scheme and redesigned the structure of the newsletter from four to three columns. Like a house renovation, this resulted in a complete makeover where we were able to create more words per line yet enable Mortgage Choice to convey its messages with greater clarity.

We also designed a new masthead typeface and layout which gave the newsletter a modern and contemporary professional look while at the same time making the collateral easier to read.

In addition, we increased the paperweight to provide a higher quality publication but were able to do so by reducing the overall production costs – no loan required to produce this newsletter!

Within the overall design, Pictogram also incorporated capacity for more than 248 individual franchisees to modify the newsletter with their own individual details and news without compromising the overall publication brand image.

As Sande Bamford, a franchisee and principal of Mortgage Choice at Robina on the Gold Coast, says,

“These newsletters are great – they have a nice fresh modern feel and are now a more appealing read.”

On an ongoing basis, Pictogram manages the receipt of the individual articles as well as the artwork, typesetting, images, approval process, and quality control. We then co-ordinate the printing and delivery of over 280,000 newsletters Australia-wide.

“We were thrilled with the newsletter makeover and the feedback from our franchise community has been overwhelmingly positive. We would certainly recommend Pictogram Design to any organisation looking to refresh their marketing collateral – not only are they great designers but you also have access to a senior team that understands the value of brand heritage and positioning. A winning combination,” says Lynne Wyatt, Head of Marketing, Mortgage Choice Limited.