NerdWallet
Brand Toolkit
In 2022, NerdWallet brought its team of Nerds to the spotlight for the first time in national commercials. As our brand differentiator, the Nerds personify NerdWallet’s unbiased financial expertise, helping people cut through financial confusion and make confident decisions.
I led the development of the brand equity toolkit that extended the look, feel, and voice of these commercials into all below-the-line channels. This toolkit evolved into our evergreen brand system, shaping every touchpoint from digital campaigns to sports sponsorships for the next few years. By centering the Nerds—along with dynamic facets and brand greens derived from our logo—we built a cohesive visual language that amplified brand saliency and made NerdWallet instantly recognizable.
Alongside toolkit development, I led design for paid ads and direct-response landing pages, where we tailored creative to different stages of the funnel. For in-market audiences, we focused on specific consumer motivations (cash-back credit cards for groceries) with nods to the Nerds’ signature sweaters. For broader brand-awareness ads, we used approachable gifs of our Nerds and copy that highlighted their financial expertise.
I created simplified UI for all of the commercials, balancing key product features with the clarity needed for 30 second spots. Now I can add “my designs sat on the head of a CGI Beluga in a Super Bowl commercial” to my Two Truths and a Lie repertoire.
I also carried this toolkit through NerdWallet’s sports sponsorships program, with the goal of accelerating brand awareness in eight key markets. Our creative approach balanced visual consistency with contextual flexibility, ensuring we always came across as a genuine fan.
The results? Sponsorships lifted unaided awareness in Denver (+4 pts) and Philadelphia (+3 pts), and boosted sponsor recognition to 27–31% among Rockies and Union fans.
Team
Creative Direction: Rob Nikzad, Chloe Dalby
Design: Jay Borelli, Christine Okazaki
Copy: Justin Sanders, Morgan Treidson, Laura Orozco
Production: Katie Booker, Max Gold, Sophie Fyfield