The refreshed corporate identity and strong single-minded positioning of insurance are brought to life through an above-the-line campaign on radio, print and television featuring Academy Award winning actor, Sir Ben Kingsley, who was flown in under a veil of secrecy. Print and TV was shot in various locations around Cape Town and the radio commercials were recorded via ISDN from a studio in Cape Town while Kingsley was in a different studio in the UK.
King James' creative tea, Devin Kennedy and Damian Bonse say, "The hardest part was finding lookalikes for Sir Ben. Rob Schreoder is the single closest lookalike on the planet we think. Rob took one for the team by shaving his head to perfect the illusion, and then went on to create the soundtrack for the commercial."
Director Dean Blumberg of Bouffant was chosen to lend his sense of style to the TV commercials. "As a team we stuck to a precise translation of the ideas; no extraneous bells and whistles. I wanted beauty and simplicity and a gravity led by our star. Sir Ben gracefully delivered a gentleness and warmth uncommon in the genre".
Intricate brief
Says Yegs Ramiah, Santam executive head: people & brand, "Our brief to King James was intricate - not only produce a new advertising campaign and brand identity that would create associations and expectations from our products and services, but to also put back into insurance the stuff that matters: real value, and change the way South Africans look at short-term insurance. Not as something trivial and dispensable but as something important, meaningful, valuable, and of real, enduring consequence. The agency has encapsulated our new brand direction which as a contemporary, yet established brand is evident in all executions."
The refreshed brand identity gives visual reality to its leadership status, says Ramiah. It also challenges the assumption that anyone can do insurance. After all, why does anyone take six months to buy the perfect home but only ten minutes to insure it?
"The change comes from a clear-headed business decision," Ramiah says. "The company is determined to claim its market leader status with confidence and stature. The revised logo exploits the fact that the yellow umbrella is instantly recognisable and has become a South African brand icon. However, this is more than just a revised visual representation of the brand. The redesign comes on the back of a number of hard, yet important, business decisions and ambitions. It differentiates its offering and value to shareholders, clients, partners and the broader South African economy."
A large number of competitor insurers have entered the market in recent years. Ramiah says this has exposed consumers to choices in every aspect of short-term insurance, created an element of consumer confusion and effectively eroded the value of the short-term insurance industry.
Ian Kirk, Santam chief executive, says, "The yellow umbrella embodies who the company is, what it offers, its past successes and its future aspirations. I am proud of our brand, respectful of the equity it contains and the power it holds."
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Updated at 1.25pm on 16 May 2011.
Updated at 5.46pm on 17 May 2011.
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