#BrandManagerMonth: Putting your money where your mouth is

However, Metropolitan has headed in a new direction, with a story-telling campaign giving expression to the company’s desire to listen, understand and guide - rather than dictate. The campaign launched on 1 February with TV ad about a real-life financial crossroads. Head of brand, Llewellyn Allen tells us more…

Llewellyn Allen

What brands are you personally responsible for?

The Metropolitan brand in South Africa, and the development of the overarching brand across the African continent in conjunction with my international peers.

What’s on your wish list for brand objectives for 2016?

Our key focus for 2016 is to accelerate the repositioning of the brand in the market, and to make it more relevant, real and wanted in the mind of the everyday South African consumer. At the same time we want to position it as younger and more vibrant – who says that financial services always have to be grey and staid?

What activations do you have planned for your brand stable for the year?

We have three legs of activations:

• A strong push to give our sales force the backing they need on the ground in South Africa.

• Ensuring that people understand finance and money better; a lot of work is going into our financial literacy projects, but done in a new way, and to a new audience who we believe are the gatekeepers to our country’s future success.

• Engaging with our clients about the things they are passionate and excited about: this has always been a hallmark of our brand. In 2016, we are focusing on two primary areas: music and sport.

Is your brand using content as part of your marketing strategy?

With over 114 years of experience in financial services, there is so much available for us to use.

More importantly, our goal is to package content via the mainstreams to ensure that it is relevant and useful to the end consumer. If it can be delivered in an innovative way, then we know we are really onto something.

A great example of this was our Savings Month Campaign on MetroFm last year, where the client led the conversation through social media and radio. We simply rewarded and amplified our clients’ positive financial behaviour to create broader awareness.

What do you see currently as the main challenges or opportunities for your brand sector?

It’s the myth of the corporate. Somewhere in the cycle of the sector we have further blurred the line between seeing our clients as people similar to ourselves and the entrusted entity that manages money.

There is a need to balance these facets of the brand, particularly in a sector like ours that is already cluttered and characterised by much of the same look and speak.

I believe the modern South African consumer is looking for authenticity from their brands, particularly financial ones, and some regard of their abilities to make their own informed choices.

Does your brand still see the value of TV, print and other mainstream media? Explain

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Mainstream media still very much have a place in our market. It represents the big brand feel that consumers want to see. But I don’t believe it ends there, the integration of these channels with the experiential, digital and earned media is critical.

This approach now drives the briefing, planning and resultant creative for our media mix. Put simply, we’ve moved beyond just making TV ads. With this integration, there are certain key principles that need to be in place. One is that the agency-client relationship needs to be working. Another is that from a brand perspective, the objectives need to be pretty tight, with solid strategy in place to understand what each part of a campaign is expected to deliver to the greater whole.

What do you love most about your brand?

Sjoe….everything! I love what it stands for, its permanence and foundation. We spend a lot time out on the road, meeting and engaging with people. And no matter whether you are on TV or utilising the latest approaches in communicating, when you talk to the people whose lives we have touched, there is lasting legacy and pride in the brand. When people sing a radio ad to you from nearly 20 years ago, word for word, that is amazing. I also love what this brand can become, its ability to evolve and regenerate itself every couple of years, mirroring the zeitgeist of where we find ourselves as a country and continent.

What do you love most about the South African consumer?

The openness and “swag” – there is an undeniable boldness developing in our country. It is coming through in everything we do, whether it is how we discuss sensitive issues, or how we sell to each other.

There is an unmistakable passion about all things South African, which makes it a great time to be working in this industry also believe that some of the market factors impacting us and all South Africans force us to be smarter, more innovative and less hung up on emulating traditional western approaches to communicating with the consumer. It is driving us to forge a new African path.

What are your own personal favourite brands?

I love Woolworths and Superbalist in the retail space. Jack Wills, Lacoste and Adidas Originals tend to be my go-to brands, and life without Facebook, Instagram and Uber would be a little dull.