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A Power Station case
study.
Integrated Approach Finds Novel Way To Open
Doors
Alexander Forbes Risk Services is part of the Alexander Forbes
Group, the world's eighth largest insurance broker and risk services
provider with offices in 30 countries.
Although an important name in its home market of South Africa,
where Alexander Forbes has a dominant market position, the company
was not widely recognised among the UK-based multi-nationals and
large corporates.
Building a portfolio of corporate clients from its London office
was clearly going to be a challenge, unless the company could attract
the attention of key decision makers in its chosen markets and
demonstrate its specialist skills and capabilities.
The organisation needed to find a way to open doors to prospective
clients, and that became the theme of the integrated communications
programme we proposed and implemented.
The programme was based on marketing positioning and key messages,
and the first step was for senior management to define their overall
positioning statement.
The Power Station's specialists in marketing and communications
worked with the management team to define business objectives and
key messages and then developed design concepts to support the
desired brand values. The 'Open Doors' theme was carried through
into every part of the communications programme, reinforcing the
important messages about Alexander Forbes.
The centrepiece for the launch of the programme was a CD-ROM,
which was distributed to all key decision makers as a way of 'opening
doors'. This was a novel approach for marketing in the broking
sector at the time, and so created a great deal of interest among
the target audience. It also enabled the company to communicate
in a visually powerful way.
A range of communications tools supported the initiative, including
brochures, client newsletters, direct mail, targeted advertising,
exhibition stands at major industry conferences, and associated
literature. The Power Station team also helped to redesign the
company web site, so that web and email communications carried
the same look and feel as printed material.
"The CD-ROM literally opened doors
for us," confirmed Ken Rolls, Business Development
Director at Alexander Forbes, "as
we followed it with personal visits by members of the sales team.
"It was an integral part of an orchestrated
campaign that worked well. The fresh approach enabled us to get
a foothold in the UK, which is a strategically important market
for us."
A co-ordinated communications strategy is now continuing to enable
Alexander Forbes to exploit its competitive edge.
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