Branding Beyond Retail: Designing for Institutional Audiences

You may already be serving institutional clients , or your product naturally fits their needs. But is your brand doing the same?

The growth path of many fintech companies starts in the same place: targeting a clear, narrow audience - usually tech-savvy consumers (B2C) or innovative companies (B2B). But what happens when your brand needs to speak to position for institutions that move at a different pace, ask different questions, and require a different kind of trust?

This article explores what it means to evolve your brand to serve multiple audiences, particularly when expanding into the institutional space, using real-world examples like Stripe, Coinbase, and Kraken to show what success looks like in practice.

Expanding your offering to institutional clients isn't just a sales or product decision - it's a brand one.

Institutions don’t buy on features alone. They buy on:

• Trust: Is this company secure, compliant, and stable?
• Clarity: Can I understand their offer quickly without digging?
• Credibility: Do they look like they’ve done this before?

This is where many fintechs stumble. The very traits that helped win over retail users, like boldness, cleverness, speed, and visual distinctiveness, can become liabilities when pitching to enterprise buyers or institutional partners.

To resonate with institutional audiences, your brand needs to evolve in several areas:

• Tone of voice: From witty to considered. From casual to credible.
• Visual language: From vibrant and energetic to structured and sophisticated.
• Navigation and UX: Clear segmentation of use cases, products, and pathways for different roles.
• Information hierarchy: Institutions need data sheets, audits, legal documentation front and center - not buried behind lifestyle messaging.

Let’s break down what each audience expects:

If you serve more than one audience, the challenge becomes architectural. Here are three common patterns:

Option 1: Single master brand, layered UX.
Think: Stripe. One brand, but onboarding pathways diverge based on need.

Option 2: Master brand with dedicated institutional section.
Think: Spark vs. Spark Institutional , same brand DNA, tailored experience.

Option 3: Branded sub-offering for institutions.
Think: Coinbase, with distinct platforms (Coinbase, Coinbase Commerce, Coinbase Prime) that address different trust levels and audience needs.

Stripe serves startups, platforms, and developers , but also large institutions, global enterprises, and governments.

• Structure: Single cohesive brand with deeply layered UX.
• B2B: Developer-first, product-focused. Emphasis on quickstarts, APIs, integration speed.
• B2I: Embedded finance, Stripe Treasury, and enterprise-scale solutions. Emphasis on compliance, SOC reports, global partners.
• UX difference: Audiences self-select via landing pages, solution pages, and tailored docs , but the identity stays unified.
• Visual identity: Consistent, neutral, minimal. Focus is on modularity, not separation.

Takeaway:
Stripe shows how a single brand can scale across audiences without splintering , as long as pathways are structured, and trust signals are layered in the right places.

Coinbase is one of the clearest examples of a fintech brand that serves individual retail users, developer teams, and institutional investors , with distinct offerings that match each audience.

• Structure: Shared parent brand with three differentiated products: Coinbase (retail), Coinbase Commerce (B2B), Coinbase Prime (B2I).
• B2C: Bright UI, educational tone, focused on ease and accessibility.
• B2B: Developer-focused with product documentation and API integration support.
• B2I: Compliance-heavy, audit-driven, secure. Emphasizes custody, liquidity, and enterprise onboarding.
• UX difference: Each product has its own tone, visual weight, and depth , reflecting the audience's expectations.
• Visual identity: Aligned, but adapted. B2I experience is stripped-down, minimal, and confidence-first.

Takeaway:
Coinbase succeeds by making the differences feel intentional , not just in language, but in how the brand is structured and presented across trust levels.

Kraken is a crypto exchange serving both retail traders and institutional clients , and it makes that split visible.

• Structure: One brand with two distinct experiences: Kraken for individuals and Kraken Institutional.
• B2C: Bold, expressive, crypto-native visuals. Accessible UI, social tone, educational support.
• B2I: Grayscale design, trust-first content, and a conservative tone tailored for funds and financial institutions.
• UX difference: Institutional clients are led into a minimal, compliance-ready experience, with a strong emphasis on onboarding and custody.
• Visual identity: Same logo and system, but adjusted tone and hierarchy. Less color, more space, more gravity.

Takeaway:
Kraken demonstrates how a single brand can stretch to serve both ends of the market , as long as the user experience is intentionally segmented.

Serving more than one audience isn’t just about messaging. It’s about how the experience feels. Each group should see themselves reflected in the visuals, tone, and structure. These are the three most common models:

Option 1: One brand, flexible experience.
Stripe uses one visual system, but tailors UX for each audience. Developers see fast-start guides, while enterprises find compliance and trust-building content.

Option 2: Shared brand, distinct institutional layer.
Kraken keeps a unified brand, but creates a separate experience for institutions. The tone is quieter, visuals more restrained, and content focused on custody and audits.

Option 3: Branded sub-offerings.
Coinbase builds separate offerings for different audiences: Coinbase for retail, Commerce for businesses, Prime for institutions. Each has its own depth, tone, and visual weight.

Institutions read between the lines. Every color, word, and UI flow is a signal of what kind of partner you are.

You don’t need to lose your original spirit to grow into an institutional player. But you do need to evolve it , with structure, clarity, and a new kind of confidence.

And that evolution starts with brand.