The Sanlam Group announced the appointment of Omnicom Advertising South Africa, WPP (led by Landor in London and supported by sister agency Design Bridge and Partners in South Africa) and Kantar as new strategic partners. The financial services group is positioning itself for significant growth across emerging markets in Africa, Asia and other selected growth markets.
Together, the partners bring global expertise in client insight, strategic design and creativity, delivered through strong local capabilities and market understanding across the markets in which Sanlam operates and aligned with the Group’s commitment to transformation.
The agency appointments follow the arrival of Charl Bassil as Group Chief Brand and Marketing Officer earlier this year. A South African marketer with extensive international experience, Bassil has held senior brand leadership roles at some of the world’s most recognised organisations, including serving as the BBC’s inaugural Chief Brand Officer, Global Chief Marketing Officer of Absolut Vodka and General Manager of Carling Black Label at SABMiller in South Africa.
‘Sanlam has built a remarkable business over many years, but customer expectations are changing rapidly,’ said Bassil. ‘As we continue to grow in South Africa and across emerging markets, and as we expand our capabilities, it is critical that the experience of engaging with Sanlam becomes simpler, more connected and relevant.’
Over its more than a century-long history, the Sanlam Group has grown into a broad financial services business spanning life, savings, general insurance and investments. The next phase is about making that breadth easier to access and experience, reducing the complexity of navigating products, businesses and client channels.
The brand reinvigoration supports the Group’s purpose of empowering customers and communities to live with confidence by promoting financial inclusion, transformation and sustainable growth. It is designed to create a more consistent experience for the individuals, businesses and intermediaries Sanlam serves.
‘Clients don’t think in products, channels or organisational structures. They think about their needs and the outcomes they want to achieve,’ said Bassil. ‘Our responsibility is to build a brand experience that reflects that reality.
‘We are bringing together some of the best expertise in the world because we believe these disciplines work best when they are connected,’ said Bassil. ‘Better insight leads to better decisions. Better design creates better experiences. Better creativity helps us build stronger connections with the people we serve.’
Omnicom Advertising will serve as Sanlam’s strategic creative partner, bringing deep expertise in building integrated brands across Africa, Asia and other growth markets. Through its global network of agency brands, Omnicom brings together creative, media, data and technology capabilities to help organisations build stronger brands and grow across diverse markets.
Kantar will help the Group deepen its understanding of client needs and measure brand performance through research, analytics and client insight. WPP will lead strategic design, drawing on the expertise Landor in London and sister agency Design Bridge and Partners in South Africa, to help create a design system that works consistently across physical and digital environments.
Bassil is clear that the aim is relevance, not cosmetic change. ‘This is not about changing how the brand looks. It is about ensuring the brand remains relevant for the next generation of clients and continues to reflect the scale, ambition and opportunity of the business we are becoming.’
ACCENTURE SONG
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