• by Karl Greenberg , September 30, 2008

It's all in the timing. Zurich Financial Services Group might have something to say about that. The Swiss insurance giant had its brush with an AIG-style sinking six years ago, came back with a more stable portfolio and is now living to tell about it, even as the rest of the financial-services world dog paddles.

The company has launched its biggest global campaign, and while some of the messaging is about the health of the company's balance sheet (when it recovered, it focused on its core business and avoided risky growth strategies), the effort was developed mainly to assuage consumers' mistrust of the insurance companies in general.

The $300 million campaign, via Publicis' group of agencies, spans 80 countries, with executions in 8 languages. It uses 80,000 distribution outlets, 6 media channels, comprises 100 print advertisements, 40 TV executions and a raft of interactive programs worldwide.

Zurich's chief marketing officer, Arun Sinha, this week said the effort comprises TV print, digital, outdoor, and airport displays. He says that Publicis will handle offline efforts--TV, print, airport, and outdoor--while Ogilvy One does interactive.

The campaign is also consequent to the company's year-long study last year that plumbed the sentiments of some 38,000 consumers in 12 countries vis à vis insurance companies. The findings: consumers don't trust insurance companies and think they are inhumane, uncaring, impersonal, and generally unresponsive.

"We asked them what they thought of the insurance category--what they thought of Zurich," Sinha tells Marketing Daily. "Fewer than 15% trust any insurance company. The bottom line was 'Can you deliver when it matters to me?' And nobody is doing that."

He said the company's new brand strategy is about changing that perception, and making consumers feel valued.

The company will also launch a "Zurich HelpPoint Consumer Advocacy Campaign," offering access to information for insurance customers through a public Web portal.

HelpPoint is modeled after an auto-insurance program run by subsidiary Farmer's Group in Switzerland. "But that's just car insurance," says Sinha. "What we wanted to do is expand it to make it relevant to all our businesses--whether it's for individuals, small to medium size companies, commercial lines, or global. HelpPoint is advice, service and solution."

The first TV spot launched last week in North America, where the company has commercial and large-company business. The ads play off of Zurich's blue corporate color, with creative that zooms in from the global aspect of the Zurich's coverage, to individual moments. Sinha says ads show three vignettes involving a fire hazard, risk engineers at work studying power windmills, and a Hong Kong company.

"We are one of the very few companies that covers every aspect of insurance, from personal lines to global corporate," says Sinha, who says the campaign is bifurcated with one group of ads about consumers, and personal lines of business, such as motor and life, while another is focused on commercial or global corporate--"mostly mid-sized to large companies."

As for the timing of the campaign, "We definitely did not predict it, but our intention was to show the world we are financially stable and strong--and for customers, we are there to help you."