What matters to you, matters to Metropolitan

This follows a strategic review of the business and forms part of a broader strategy by parent company MMI Holdings to increase earnings and set the business up to achieve sustainable, profitable growth.

Take a listen:

The campaign is built around the promise of ‘What matters to you, matters to us’. “Our new brand campaign is a very public and bold return to our roots – a social pact with our customers, both current and future, as well as our employees and shareholders alike. In a sometimes-chaotic world driven by mass production and anonymity, we believe that people want to be seen for their everyday personal pursuits to better life for themselves and their families. But as with anything in life, two pairs of hands are always better than one,” explains Llewellyn Allen, divisional chief marketing officer at Metropolitan.

“It’s the same when it comes to people’s money needs. At Metropolitan, we wholeheartedly believe that having an encouraging, friendly expert at your side through life, who is enabling and celebrating the good times with you but who is also there for you in the challenging times, is the essence of what we do. Our new campaign shows that we are by our clients’ side, walking their life’s journey with them and helping them plan for and achieve the financial goals that really matter to them by providing personalised financial products and advice.

“Metropolitan is a brand that has been about the power of the collective for years – this is expressed through the pay off line, ‘Together we can’. Our new campaign is inspired by insights regarding how individuals and families have their unique needs; no two families are the same even within similar cultures. As a brand we believe that when clients communicate what matters to them, our ability to offer solutions that enhance their lives is strengthened,” Allen continues.

What was the idea; key insight?
During the six-month research and development process in the run-up to the campaign, a statement that frequently cropped up was: “I remember my parents had a policy with you.” The question we had to ask was: “Why don’t you have a policy with us?” People were asking us to remind them of what the core of Metropolitan is – to tell them who we are, and most importantly remind them why we’re relevant in their lives.

The key to answering the relevance question was to ensure we understood what was driving our consumers when it came to their finances. It was quite clear that our consumers feel that they’re writing their own story and want advice and support from someone who takes time to really understand their needs.

So, we’ve gone back to what it is that makes us Metropolitan – a friendly, encouraging expert that’s there beside you to help you make the right decisions with your money.

Which agencies worked on this campaign?
Several agencies worked together on the account in addition to the internal team – Black River FC, Mediology, VML and Eclipse Public Relations.

Research

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Comment on the power of the collective, the importance of client centricity and the pay-off line ‘together we can’ - how this campaign demonstrates this.
The power of the collective is nowhere more prominent than in the understanding that we work with consumers who don’t only have their own needs to balance and consider but also those of their nuclear family, extended family and the community when it comes to money.

As a brand all about people, right there by your side, lifting you up (when you may need it) or guiding you along the way sometimes – it’s key that we acknowledge our role in that relationship. Our view on our role in that relationship with money is best explained with a metaphor, that every South African has their own unique story to tell, and we’re the brand that can help them tell those stories because we strongly believe that, ‘Together we can’, i.e. two hands and even two heads can be better than one.

By staying true to this ethos, we have consistently improved our score in the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) for life insurance companies, starting at 74% in 2014 and growing to this year’s 80.8% – outperforming the industry average of 78.9%. It has also seen us being voted recently as the top company in the long-term insurance industry for service excellence in the Ask Afrika Orange Index.

The campaign came about following a strategic review in November and forms part of a broader strategy by MMI Holdings. This is in addition to revitalising your client-facing brands. What do you hope to communicate/achieve through the campaign?
With the new campaign, we want to get clients optimistic about their futures and the role that the company can play in helping them achieve their financial life goals. We hope to do so by encouraging an increased adoption of our new solutions that live up to this vision.

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Why did you decide to incorporate a specific product into your marketing?
Funeral cover is one of our largest products – it’s what we are best known for. We’ve used a TV commercial to dramatise the uniqueness of our new funeral product – that we are able to personalise it to your needs. Not only are we showing people who we are but also ‘why Metropolitan’.

What has the response been?
It’s still a bit early to tell. This is by no means a brief campaign and will be with us for some time, but so far the response has been good. There has been a strong consumer reaction to the positive and emotional sentiment that we are communicating.

What can we expect in the coming months?


More authenticity and a greater focus on delving deeper each time into this new campaign narrative in different and innovative ways. We’ve just communicated this re-energised return to our roots. It is now all about telling this story over and over and over again, of course also making sure that we deliver on our promises.