t’s been a while since Sun Life Financial has seen the light of day. In 2002, the Montreal company bought Clarica Life Insurance, and since then Clarica has been the company’s public face, selling individual insurance while Sun Life operated in the corporate sphere. But now the Clarica name is slated for retirement, and Sun Life has tapped ACLC to craft an all-new brand identity and the insurer’s first corporate advertising in years. ACLC will also handle media planning and buying for Sun Life.
“Clarica has been a strong name, no question,” says Michel Leduc, vice-president, public and corporate affairs for Sun Life Financial. “We believe the time is right, however, to build on our global name.” Since going public in 2000, Sun Life has grown significantly in the United States and several Asian markets. “Some new Canadians actually know us from other countries,” says Leduc, adding that bringing part of that international reputation home is key to his plans.
Early this year, Sun Life worked with Ove Design & Communications Ltd. and Neil McOstrich’s consulting entity Clean Sheet to develop the brand communications for the Clarica conversion. That resulted in the “Sunny Days Ahead” print campaign which launched at the end of March and was scheduled to run until the end of June.
But after notifying the public of the brand change, the hunt was on for an agency to market the new Sun Life. Leduc met with several agencies, and shortlisted ACLC and one other agency he declined to name. He briefed the two agencies on the branding specs, and asked both to produce 60-second videos that demonstrated how they interpreted the Sun Life brand.
Esmé Carroll, CEO and chair of ACLC, says part of her agency’s pitch was an attempt to broaden the public’s understanding of what Sun Life is all about. “A lot of people think Sun Life is just an insurance company, but it’s more than that. They try to be a lifelong partnership, and our approach was to depict that.”
Carroll presented the video to Sun Life (now one of ACLC’s largest clients) at the agency’s Toronto offices along with agency president Ian Gordon and two of the firm’s key creatives, Steve Conover and Howard Beauchamp. Pieced together from existing footage, their video focused on services like financial planning to create a sense that Sun Life wanted to be with clients at every step of their financial growth.
But besides the video, and equally important to Carroll, was the strategic vision her team developed, which they felt would help Sun Life understand their market.
“They’re really talking to a broad spectrum of adults from many different stages of life.” How to best reflect that in an ad campaign? “You’re looking for universal truths about what affects everyone looking to live the good life,” she says. “You’re trying to deal with attitudes rather than demographics.”
For Leduc, the decision to go with ACLC came down to one thing: “The people. Highly prepared, highly organized people. [There was] commitment from the top and, most importantly, a sound creative track record.”
ACLC is planning a multi-media program including television, print and out-of-home elements set to launch in September.
