Who: Beneva, with lg2 for branding, strategy and creative, Cinéland for production (directed by Jean-Francois Asselin), and Post 430 and Circonflex for post-production. OMD Canada for media.
What: The first advertising campaign for the insurance brand, which arose out of last year’s merger of La Capitale and SSQ Insurance.
When & Where: The campaign is live now (Oct. 11), running through the fall. In Quebec, it includes TV, online video, and a big outdoor push. Outside of Quebec, the focus is on B2B digital and print.
Why: La Capitale and SSQ are still integrating their businesses and won’t be operating as Beneva until January, but the company wanted to start introducing the brand to Canadians. Through the merger, Beneva will become the largest mutual insurance company in Canada, with more than 3.5 million members.
As it becomes bigger, Beneva wants to ensure customers they won’t be forgotten—that the new business will retain the “human values” of the two existing companies, and will operate with a “people-first approach.”
“We want to present Beneva as a new major player in the insurance industry, a company that is approachable and close to its customers,” said Louis-Philippe Roux, vice-president of marketing, in a release introducing the campaign.
How: The idea for the lighthearted TV/OLV campaign is that Beneva is introducing itself to consumers, and is looking for the best spokesperson to do that. The video shows the Quebec celebrities it’s considering for the role, including Rita Baga, Sonia Benezra, Joanne Vrakas, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, Marie-Lyne Joncas and Manuel Hurtubise. In the end, the voiceover explains they decided an actual employee would be best—except the employee responds that she’d prefer to be taking care of clients.
“And we’ll keep taking good care of you when La Capitale and SSQ Insurance become Beneva,” says the voiceover, as the tagline “People protecting people” appears on screen.
“Since we are highly motivated by the desire to put people first, the ad campaign brings home the idea that our best ambassadors are our employees—people looking out for people,” said Roux.
Outdoor ads use the brand name and simple copy lines on a bold purple background. Aside from the advertising, lg2 also worked on the brand and the digital experience, which will be introduced early next year.
“We have been fortunate to be able to support the development of the Beneva brand strategy, identity and now their national communications,” said Keith Barry, vice-president of strategy, lg2 Toronto. “Moving forward, we are excited to help them bring the brand to life through their digital platforms, which will be launched in the coming months.”
And we quote: “We’re investing in relationships, in the community and in the well-being of future generations. We’re simplifying our services for people. We’d even say that we’re humanizing it. That’s the main angle of our positioning. This will be reflected in everything we do and in all our digital tools in the next few years.”— Louis-Philippe Roux, vice-president of marketing, Beneva
