Advertising campaign of the year

Winner

Alexander Forbes Professions

Our solicitors' professional indemnity insurance advertising campaign was a key component of a fully integrated marketing communications strategy.

Due to the 1 September 2003 deadline for UK solicitors' professional indemnity insurance renewals, it was inevitable that there would be tough competition from other insurance providers leading up to this date. Our innovative communications plan was therefore devised with the aim of staying ahead of our competitors. Clear objectives and targets were set.

At Alexander Forbes Professions we pride ourselves in being client focused and able to reach a varied UK-wide audience. Therefore, our advertising campaign needed to be creative and eye catching, informing our audience that they could not be certain of their professional indemnity insurance until they had spoken to Alexander Forbes.

This was achieved through market research and stakeholders' feedback to create a new concept that was fresh, innovative and distinctive. Advertisements were unveiled encompassing a strong corporate identity, fused with a humorous angle, which was unique compared to our competition. Furthermore, we secured an edge by coming up with a series of teasers designed to entice the reader, and draw their attention to the full-page advertisement.

Drawing on the South African roots of the company, concepts were finalised using three different animal images: a crocodile, a leopard and a turtle.

These presented three distinct aspects of the campaign:

- The strengths Alexander Forbes is able to exercise on behalf of its clients.

- The difference between Alexander Forbes and competing service providers.

- The benefits of considering Alexander Forbes as the chosen partner.

We are delighted to have won this prestigious award, and appreciate the time given by the judges.

Highly commended

Allianz Cornhill

After a year away from the advertising arena and following a review of the brand portfolio during that time, the Allianz Cornhill 2003 campaign had some tough objectives to meet. With an overall objective to reinforce the strengths of belonging to the Allianz Group and the consequent financial security, there was a new logo and visual style to be introduced. The company also wished to raise awareness of, and establish positive links with, Allianz's sponsorship of the BMW Williams F1 team.

It was clear that the F1 sponsorship wathe ideal theme to carry the overall corporate message, so individual executions were developed to echo the key values of Allianz Cornhill: focused, expertise, strength and confidence.

After an introductory teaser advertisement to launch the campaign, the four individual ads followed a campaign style of dramatic photography, with single 'value' word headlines, engaging and relevant copy to link Allianz Cornhill's key values to the strengths of the BMW Williams F1 team and, of course, a prominent Allianz Cornhill logo in the new corporate style. The campaign also featured a competition which referred potential participants to the ready-to-win website. The ads ran consecutively from April to December 2003.

Qualitative research demonstrated that the advertisements were meeting their objectives among brokers and within the company. Subsequent independent quantitative research showed that the advertisements had generated high awareness and had successfully communicated the key campaign messages.

Hugh James Solicitors

Firstly, we at Hugh James congratulate the winners of this most prestigious award.

We recognise that Insurance Times is one of the most widely read journals in the insurance industry and so competition for Advertising Campaign of the Year will have been fierce. To be highly commended among such competition is a huge accolade for us.

Hugh James has always been a strong insurance litigation firm both locally and nationally but equally described as the UK's best-kept secret. It was a case, therefore, of enhancing our brand, increasing profile and launching new products backed by innovation, technology and a drive to cut costs.

The Hugh James brand had to become more familiar in the insurance market, to encourage word of mouth discussion and interest in our products. The advertising campaign not only had to show that we stood out from the crowd but also had to convince the market place we were players to look at now and in the future. The feedback from the market, subsequent to our campaign, certainly tells us we have achieved this.

Simon King, head of marketing and business development at Hugh James, said: "This award is extremely precious to us especially as it has been achieved with a young marketing team on a relatively low budget but with a clear focus on creativity and innovation. We see the insurance market in a positive light where opportunities come through application. It is clear that this enthusiasm shone through in our campaign. To be highly commended has certainly proved one thing; we are no longer the UK's best secret."

Sainsbury's Bank

Emma Mell, senior campaign and planning manager at Sainsbury's Bank was delighted to hear the news.

"It's tremendous to receive the recognition that goes with this commendation. Our modest budget had to deliver against stretching targets. That's a familiar challenge for businesses in many markets, but in the case of car insurance it's especially tough. Many of our competitors have both significantly larger budgets and much higher awareness among consumers for providing car cover.

"Working with McCann-Erickson, we brought together a range of best practice initiatives, to deliver an integrated campaign that played to our strengths and genuinely cut through the communication clutter that abounds for car insurance.

We expressed our core offer in clear and compelling terms, then enhanced it with attractive retail offers, such as prize draws and additional discounts.

This gave us a unique package to talk about, that was then consistently translated across all media.

In developing an integrated media plan we looked beyond the traditional options. Consumer's presence in Sainsbury's stores gave a wealth of opportunities to talk to people at times when our competitors simply couldn't. We used these to maximum effect, increasing both the regularity with which messages would be seen and the variety of ways in which consumers would encounter them.

The results in terms of awareness, quotes and customer retention justify all the hard work and time spent alone, but being highly commended for this award is yet another measure of success.