Corporate branding is an important part of any company's strategy these days. And the ethos of the company should be instilled throughout the workforce. Some companies, however, take it further than others.
Backchat turned up at an HSBC Spectrum roadshow last week and circled the room talking to the different insurance providers. He met a man from Zurich who claimed to have his company's logo, including its slogan, tattooed on his backside.
James Astle had, he claimed, taken a bet for charity at last year's Insurance Industry Awards in Birmingham and had the tattoo done soon after. He has the Zurich “Z” with “simply world class” underneath.
Discretion, being the better part of valour, meant Backchat didn't ask to see the evidence, but Zurich's head office confirmed the story as true.
Apparently, Astle noticed in the mirror as the tattooist planned the masterpiece in pen first, that “simply” had been spelt “simpley” and managed to correct it. But head office was not sure that the logo complied with corporate rules.
“Normally, anything carrying our logo has to be checked that it's in the right colour and right typeface but I don't think anyone has checked this,” a company official told Backchat.
Nobody in the Insurance Times office is prepared to believe a word of it until we see the photo. So come on James.
