Zurich: Creating A Brighter Future Together

Finalist 2024

Financial Services

Brand

Zurich Insurance Group

Entered by:

UM

Credited:

Bloomberg

The Challenge

Business leaders worldwide face the dual challenges of climate change and digital transformation, alongside macroeconomic risks like natural catastrophes, social inflation, and cybersecurity.

Despite their significant impact, society remains unprepared. The WEF’s 2023 Global Risks Report, in collaboration with Zurich, shows over 50% of respondents believe society is unprepared for severe climate risks.

As we transition to a low-carbon economy, businesses must swiftly identify, mitigate, and adapt to these challenges. Zurich, with its purpose to ‘Create a Brighter Future Together,’ strives to be perceived by BDMs as a leader in managing climate risks to build a resilient future for all.

The Strategic Solution

Our task was clear: how can we continue to enhance the reputation of Zurich Group through purposeful, impactful thought leadership (TL) content, and equip organizations and society with expert’s insights and practical tips to navigate challenges and build a resilient, brighter future.
According to an FT Longitude study, 83% of business leaders are likely to request meetings with companies producing compelling thought leadership, and 92% say high-quality TL influences their decision to award deals.

Furthermore, our in-depth research into Zurich’s priority audience groups revealed that sustainability is a top priority for CEOs globally. However, with competing brands like Axa, Allianz, Aviva, and Chubb also delivering insights on similar topics, Zurich identified a need to measurably differentiate itself from the competition.

From this audience research, Zurich identified its advantage: providing business and policy leaders with insights that address their strategic agenda for sustainability. This focus ensures that Zurich’s TL not only resonates with its audience but also stands out in a competitive market, reinforcing its role as a leader in sustainability and business resilience.

Collaborating with internal stakeholders, industry experts and partners, Zurich developed a TL program that provides relevant insights and practical, innovative solutions to environmental and societal challenges. By putting its TL and wide-ranging capabilities to the fore with high impact, high visibility media placements, Zurich empowers confidence, preparedness and positive action to shape a brighter future together, thus building on its 150 yr legacy and enhancing its reputation as a global insurer who is advancing the safety of our future. Furthermore, the production of the TL content was aligned with strategic event activations and sponsorships to create a truly global impact and stand out from traditional media campaigns in the category.

The Content Solution

1) The Risk Opportunity Podcast

Zurich partnered with Bloomberg to develop ”The Risk Opportunity Podcast Series,” a custom podcast designed to facilitate detailed storytelling in a personal, conversational manner, supporting the narrative and ecosystem of collateral.

This unique podcast series provided an ideal platform for Zurich to associate with industry experts, supporting key policy debates on climate resilience and the net-zero transition. It enabled Zurich to reach highly relevant target audiences with insights on trending themes, generate positive engagement, and reinforce Zurich’s commitment to supporting the planet and businesses in an increasingly volatile landscape.

Key episodes included:

Using Risk to Build Resilience: Addressed familiar challenges of inflation and rising interest rates, highlighting how these challenges can present opportunities to build resilience.
How to Power Climate Resilience: Explored adaptation and resilience in the context of climate change, and the technologies that could save us.
The Business of Net-Zero: Discussed operational challenges, regional disparities, and the evolving role of the risk manager.
Tools for a Resilient Future: Addressed running a business in the age of the polycrisis, and the tools required to build a more resilient future.

2) Bloomberg Green & Leaders with Lacqua Goes Green

Zurich’s sponsorship of the Bloomberg Green Summit and the Leaders with Lacqua Goes Green program, alongside promotional activities for the Zurich Forest Project, has significantly enhanced Zurich’s corporate and ESG reputation. In its 4th year, this initiative showcases Zurich’s collaboration with customers, colleagues, and communities to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions, positioning Zurich with leading climate voices and building brand affinity with ‘green’ media ahead of it’s time.

The Bloomberg Green Summit, held during Earth Month, convened top climate leaders to discuss how countries, corporations, and concerned citizens can collaborate to secure our climate future and develop solutions for our planet’s sustainability.

The Leaders with Lacqua program uniquely placed Zurich at the forefront on Bloomberg TV with a 100% SoV (a clear differentiator from its direct competitors), featuring high-profile leaders in sustainability throughout the year. Notable episodes include:

An interview with U.S. political consultant and climate advocate John Podesta.
A discussion with Farfetch founder Jose Neves on the fashion industry’s challenges and collective initiatives needed to reduce emissions.

Aligning the Green Summit and Leaders with Lacqua sponsorships under Zurich’s “With love for our planet” messaging has delivered consistent and cohesive communication, reinforcing Zurich’s dedication to environmental stewardship.

The Media/Content Amplification Solution

The Risk Opportunity Podcast

All episodes of The Risk Opportunity podcast were prominently featured on both Bloomberg and Zurich’s digital and social platforms, as well as hosted on Acast. This ensured extensive reach to commercial audiences in key U.S. locations such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, and Washington D.C., as well as in the UK – two core markets for its commercial interests. The series was supported by targeted video content aimed at C-suites, BDMs, risk managers, insurance brokerage companies, and key influencers in urban centers.

To increase brand equity, Zurich developed a new podcast page www.zurich.com/podcasts, housing each episode of The Risk Opportunity alongside additional podcast content such as Zurich Talks, growing organic visibility of Zurich’s wide range of TL material in its Knowledge Hub.

Event Sponsorships

Zurich commenced its sponsorship activities in April with a high-profile presence at the Bloomberg Green Live Summit. This full-day event covered news-relevant themes and was live-streamed on multiple platforms including the Virtual Event Platform, Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg Live Social Platform, and the Bloomberg Terminal. Zurich amplified its spotlight through internal and external digital and social media global networks.

The Leaders interviews, part of the sponsorship package, were subsequently broadcast on Bloomberg TV, with approximately one episode airing per month, featuring weekday premiers and encore airings across Asia, Australia, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Additionally, Zurich’s profile was enhanced through on-demand opportunities to watch the interviews on Bloomberg.com, supported by high-impact, targeted traffic drivers, online advertising, terminal banners, and social media amplification.

Bloomberg was selected as an ideal partner for Zurich’s 2023 TL program due to its strong affinity and reach among sustainability-focused audience groups. Bloomberg AiQ data highlights that C-suite audiences are particularly engaged with insights on tech and climate innovations. These audiences are 2.9 times more likely to engage with content on climate neutrality, making Bloomberg the ideal partner to align with on themes of climate resilience, alongside Michael Bloomberg’s green initiatives.

Media Responsibility

In addition to their relevance for both audience and topics, Bloomberg and ACAST were selected for their credentials around Media Sustainability and Responsibility. These partners were vetted using our MAGNA Media Responsibility Index (MRI) and are also present on UM’s “Better World Media” directory – a list of partners who excel across topics such as data ethics, DEI and Sustainability. This ensured that our media plan was as responsible and low-carbon as possible.

The Result

The campaign had unprecedented scale, driving 104M impressions around the world. This led to a significant rise in traffic to the Zurich website, with 5% uplift in total organic and direct sessions on average during times of campaign activity, and a +9% increase in average number of new users from organic and direct channels during campaign live dates.

Furthermore, the campaign really connected with our audience. From a media standpoint, this was evident in the fact that we achieved 63,000 podcast downloads globally and 157k clicks to the website from campaign content.

But above all, this campaign achieved its task of raising awareness of Zurich’s purpose to ‘Create A Brighter Future Together’. Thematic focus on global risks, climate transition, and Zurich Forest content drove positive commercial impact for Zurich in the US & UK.

An independently commissioned brand study found Zurich significantly enhanced its reputation vs competitors with its TL content and sponsorship programs. Responses showed a 23% uplift in recognition of Zurich having a ‘positive impact on society & the future of our planet’, and a 15% uplift in ‘recognition of Zurich’s expertise in climate resilience’ – a strong step in Zurich’s aim to be a leader in this space

Having set the foundations for success in 2023, we look forward to developing our Thought Leadership Programme over the coming years to help even more organizations and society navigate challenges and build a resilient, brighter future.