Says Rex Tomlinson, deputy CE. Liberty Life, "All elements of both the brand and product campaign reinforce the overall strategy and pay-off line of, 'The way life insurance should be', conveying simplicity, transparency and honesty."
Heralded by its 2004 "We're working on it" advertising campaign, the 2006 approach is based on the life insurance group's core values of integrity, transparency and communication. The campaign comprises a series of television commercials, radio, print and billboard advertising.
Speaking recently at the launch of the Excelsior 1000 Series to the broker network, outgoing Liberty Life CEO Myles Ruck said a new image meant nothing without action. It is for this reason that Liberty Life has also launched an internal communications programme to reinforce the new operating ethos to employees and to drive the change in Liberty Life's strategy to become a more client-focused company that is more direct, honourable and strives to do the right thing.
Tomlinson, who has overseen the new campaign, says that the group's famous logo has also been updated, with the iconic flame evolving over time. "This evolutionary process represents the change that has taken place in the organisation in the last two years as it has not only adapted to new market challenges and conditions, but foreseen what the customers want from a proactive life insurance company."
Damon Stapleton, executive creative director at TBWA Hunt Lascaris, says the brief was to position Liberty Life as a consumer champion. "Prior to coming up with the campaign, we considered what we thought consumers would say if they had to write a mission statement for the company.
"Taking into account all the bad publicity in the life insurance industry last year and what consumers were saying generally about what they wanted from insurance, we wanted the ads to tell the consumer, 'We at Liberty Life have heard you, we were working on it and we've developed a more consumer-centric approach to the way we do business."
The new campaign consists of both brand and product advertising. The branding campaign includes a 50-second television commercial (and a 45-second edit) which was launched on 10 March 2006 across M-Net, SABC 2 and 3, and e.tv, and four radio advertising ads, produced in English and Afrikaans, across national and regional radio stations including RSG, 702 Talk Radio, Kaya FM and 94.7. Outdoor billboards, with three different executions, have been placed in prime spots nationally. The print campaign has been placed in selected financial and black business media titles.
