Finalist 2025
Social Good
Brand
Zurich Insurance
Entered by:
Economist Impact
Resilience from the Ground Up
Credits:
Universal McCann
Why?
In the face of mounting climate challenges, the resilience of urban environments has never been more crucial. As climate change continues to manifest through more frequent, severe and unpredictable weather events, cities worldwide find themselves at the forefront of this crisis.
Cities, as hubs of people, infrastructure, economic activity and culture, are at the heart of the climate crisis: they can exacerbate climate risks, but they can also guard against the worst impacts of climate change and offer creative solutions to adapt and build resilience.
Engaging city residents in climate planning can help cities shift from reactive responses to proactive resilience. Yet, residents’ perspectives on climate risks and solutions are seldom explored.
As a global insurer, Zurich Insurance is committed to addressing the causes of climate change while building resilience against its effects. Zurich Insurance sought to partner with a trusted global brand to elevate its profile as a leading business partner in climate resilience, clearly differentiating itself from competitors in the eyes of C-suite executives and industry influencers. The objective was to reaffirm Zurich Insurance as a thought leader in sustainability and the preferred partner for global companies and individuals.
By delivering original insight and analysis they couldn’t get anywhere else alongside meaningful conversation between Zurich Insurance, policymakers, and C-suite decision-makers, the company sought to strengthen its influence and drive impactful change.
The Content Solution
To understand city residents’ perspectives on climate change and how they think their cities can build resilience, Economist Impact, supported by Zurich Insurance Group, launched Resilience from the ground up. This innovative programme draws on insights from a survey of 5,000 residents across ten global cities—500 respondents each from Amsterdam, Cairo, Cape Town, Dubai, Jakarta, Madrid, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo and Tokyo—and interviews with 15 experts. The study explores how urban populations view climate change and how they think their cities can build resilience. Economist Impact conducted extensive desk research, data audits, and expert interviews to assess the current state of climate resilience in an urban context—exploring key gaps and opportunities in resilience-building. This was followed by new grounded research, leading to the development of purposeful, business-relevant, and high-impact content solutions.
Literature review
In-depth literature review to identify the key pillars of communities’ climate resilience and a “green basket” of individual behaviours, policy, and business strategies that contribute to sustainable environmental practices.
Data audit
A quantitative data audit to assess the existing measures of risk and adaptation efforts in the 10 surveyed cities, aiming to identify strategies for building resilient communities at the ecosystem level.
Expert interviews
15 interviews with international experts to guide the survey questionnaire and enrich the desk research with valuable practical insights and case studies.
Grounded research
A population survey across 10 global cities to collect first-hand quantitative data on current behaviours, climate risk perceptions, preparedness, risk appetite, and behaviour changes. The study examined the effectiveness and acceptance of various interventions – including incentives, nudges, regulations, and education – aimed at enhancing climate resilience.
High impact content
Key findings on the readiness and driving factors of climate resilience are presented in a comprehensive briefing paper, complemented by a visually engaging infographic that highlights essential data points. To further support the target audience on the road to net zero, content solutions include videos, articles and podcasts – providing actionable insights and quantifying the value and benefits of resilience-building to drive meaningful change.
The Media/Content Amplification Solution
Proven to reach C-suite executives and policy makers, The Economist’s trusted media ecosystem was the ideal environment in which to promote the programme.
Targeted media across The Economist’s digital and social channels to drive awareness of the programme among C-suite and decision makers.
- Audience and contextual targeting display ads across Economist.com
- Sponsorship of The Economist’s weekly Climate Newsletter offered ideal contextual alignment for the programme, placing it alongside content that resonates with highly engaged influential audiences actively seeking insights on climate and sustainability.
- A homepage takeover at launch delivered high-impact visibility for the programme, reaching the target audience as they sought the latest global developments and their implications.
- Business and finance takeovers ensured the Resilience from the Ground Up programme appeared in environments the target audience engages with daily.
- LinkedIn placements targeted at senior executives highlighted the pivotal role of cities in advancing sustainability. Creative executions paired striking statistics from the research with insights from senior leaders, showing how cities—at the centre of the climate crisis—can not only mitigate its worst effects but also foster innovation, adaptation and resilience.
High-visibility Events
Promotion of the content at high-visibility events of global importance, fostered direct engagement with C-Suite executives and key stakeholders to drive thought-provoking conversations and industry impact.
- Climate Week, New York, September to October 2024
- Ferma Forum, Madrid, October – December 2025
- World Economic Forum, Davos, January 2025
Organic amplification
Complimenting the targeted paid media campaign, Economist Impact regularly promoted the programme to our engaged audience of social followers and newsletter subscribers. This included prominent positioning within thematically relevant issues including our edition which explored the priorities of younger generations: urban mobility, ocean and health.
The programme was prominently positioned within highly relevant environments within Economist Impact’s initiatives, including:
- Urban Futures – a new initiative from Economist Impact dedicated to equipping influential audiences with research, data and insights to explore what is needed to build intelligent and inclusive areas that foster economic and social prosperity for all. The programme was featured in the latest insights section as well as key research – enticing users to click through to explore the many programme elements.
- The Sustainability Platform – the flagship sustainability initiative of Economist Impact, providing original content that spotlights the latest news, research and insights. Links to the research programme as well as custom events drove awareness and consideration as relevant audiences sought sustainability-related insights.
The Result
With around two-thirds of people expected to live in urban areas by 2050 (UN DESA, 2018), how cities are planned, adapted and built will shape our ability to limit the worst effects of climate change. Boosting readiness requires factoring in the diverse needs of urban populations yet failing to consider demographic factors—such as gender, age, income and health—in adaptation and communication strategies risks leaving the most vulnerable behind. Our rich content programme, grounded in original research helped bring this critical issue to the fore among senior decision-makers and C-suite audiences.
Thought leadership and brand positioning: Purposeful, business relevant and high impact content from Economist Impact raises Zurich’s profile as a trusted voice and an expert business partner in climate resilience and adaptation, enhances Zurich’s reputation as a leading authority on climate sustainability.
Global Reach: Extensive media campaign across The Economist platforms engaged the world’s influential audiences including C-level executives, decision makers and policy makers. The online and social media campaign delivered strong site engagement among targeted audiences surpassing KPIs. The targeted audience showed strong engagement across all content pieces.
Right audience: Traffic to the site was more likely as C-Suite, BDM and from the Energy sector – clearly demonstrating how our tailored creative and rich content resonated with target audiences.
Extended engagement: Presence at high-visibility events enabled extended direct dialogue, fostering deeper discussions and engagement. Feedback onsite included “mind blowingˮ and “masterfulˮ.
Custom brand lift study measuring campaign effectiveness showed respondents reported a more favorable opinion of Zurich after engaging with the content and would consider partnering with Zurich to achieve sustainability goals.