Toronto-based Intact Insurance has named Cossette its new agency of record following what senior vice-president of marketing Monika Federau called a “multi-stage” review that began last fall.
The assignment was previously with GWP Brand Engineering, which developed the Intact Insurance brand when its predecessor, ING Insurance, was acquired from Dutch parent ING Group in 2009.
“We’ve really changed the approach from brand development to really executing on building the brand nationally,” said Federau. “[GWP] helped us tremendously get to where we are, but we needed a different set of capabilities to have that coast-to-coast presence and integrated approach.”
She did not disclose how many agencies participated in the review, but said that Cossette was selected from a “very, very strong” short list. GWP did not defend the assignment.
Federau said that Intact and Cossette shared similar values, while the agency’s expertise across multiple marketing disciplines also made it attractive to the company. “We work in a very integrated fashion within our organization, so that was a real match,” she said.
While Intact has conducted previous national advertising campaigns since it was formally launched in 2009, Federau said that its previous capacity was one campaign every two years. “We now need to accelerate and enhance that capacity,” she said.
Intact is currently in the midst of the on-boarding process with Cossette, but Federau said that it could introduce some regional campaigns within the first half of the year. Cossette is also working with Intact on a website redesign and strategic planning for a new brand campaign, she said.
The home, auto and business insurance provider has what Federau characterized as a “well-defined” brand and value proposition for consumers that revolves around making customers who file a claim “whole again” through speed, empathy and excellent customer service. “Now it’s about creatively extending that and exposing more consumers to that message,” she said.
Intact, which has approximately 4 million customers in Canada, has focused extensively on television advertising in the past, although online, print and radio have also factored into its consumer outreach. Federau said that Intact would be looking to “extend” its consumer touchpoints, with continued growth its key objective.
Media for Intact was not affected by the review, remaining with Havas Media Canada.
