Sanlam appoints Machine as its internal communications partner

Gareth McPherson

Sarah Browning de Villiers

Sydney Nhlanhla Mbhele

Impressed by Machine’s content marketing specialisation, communications experience, creativity and powerful digital transformation solutions, Sanlam is delighted to appoint Machine as its partner from 2020. Machine will be responsible for re-energising Sanlam Group’s internal communications across multiple business divisions, including Sanlam Personal Finance, Sanlam Sky, Sanlam Emerging Markets/Sanlam Pan Africa and Glacier by Sanlam.

“Machine’s specialist content marketing division has been delivering proven ROI for the Sanlam Group’s loyalty programme, Sanlam Reality, over the last seven years,” says Sarah Browning-de Villiers, Machine’s Chief Content Officer. “We are incredibly privileged to be trusted to extend our partnership with Sanlam across the Group’s internal communications, and are excited to drive meaningful content marketing experiences that will translate into real business results. We believe in the power of people, so partnering with Sanlam to nurture the people at the heart of its successes and its future growth is very special.”

The scope of work will include a range of internal communication publications and platforms, from custom print magazines to email newsletters, internal portals and websites, digital magazines, and social chat channels, as well as implementing a central CMS solution across business departments. Another important mandate will be to help Sanlam drive efficiencies across its various business units whilst retaining editorial and communication excellence to its varied and geographically spread out internal audiences.

“We are excited to partner with Machine as our internal communications agency. The refreshing insight, which Machine demonstrated during the pitch process, showcased their high standard of expertise, creativity and innovative solutions, which we believe will indeed enhance our internal communications capabilities. We look forward to a mutually rewarding partnership,” says Sydney Mbhele, Chief Executive: Brand at Sanlam.

“Winning Sanlam’s internal communications business is testament to the incredible integrated offering of Machine, bringing together our specialisations of content marketing, PR and influencer, tech platforms and solutions, creativity and UX/UI design,” adds Gareth McPherson, Machine’s Managing Director and Chief Creative Officer. “The pitch process was both rigorous and exciting, and we really enjoyed getting stuck into the challenges posed by the briefs.

“Fundamentally, we understand how to digitally transform a business while remaining sympathetic and pragmatic to the realities of a legacy, for large corporates such as Sanlam.

“To be partnering with a team with whom we are already enjoying a huge amount of synergy is fantastic. We’re already working with Sanlam on some exciting developments for 2020, and we can’t wait to share these with Sanlam’s staff and stakeholders over the course of next year.”

Machine is an award-winning brand experience agency with offices in Jo’burg and Cape Town.

About Machine

Born out of digital, Brand Experience Company Machine, is home to 70 adventurous minds. The agency combines incisive strategy, award-winning creativity and cutting edge technology to transform their client’s business. It is represented in both Johannesburg and Cape Town and features specialisation across 5 key pillars: Content Marketing (Narrative), Public Relations (Moon Walk), Technology & Digital Solutions (Nurun), User-Experience and Through-the-Line Communications.

About Sanlam

Sanlam is a diversified financial services group, headquartered in South Africa, operating across a number of selected global markets. To find out more about Sanlam, visit www.sanlam.co.za