Case Study – Assupol
The birthday elaborations took place on 1 5 July 2009, while the marketing of ’95 years of service excellence’ continued throughout the year.
The history of the company became the vehicle through which It shared its proud legacy with employees and clients. It evoked emotions of loyalty and trust, (while strategist desired outcomes for the future), ‘Growing our future from the roots of our past’ became their strategic angle and driver.
Experience echoes of the past All advertising (both in the print and electronic media), as well as internal communication, was branded with the AS Logo. SUPRA)L An Authorized Financial Services and Credit Provider MARKETING Financial results were published with the following copy: A forest is not grown in a season The Spousal Life Group of Companies has delivered pleasing results in the past year. We are proud of a decent set of results, despite the challenging environment in which they were produced; says Cert. Weasels,Geoff Spousal Life.
Summary of the results: Group assets: Increased by 5,9% to RE,146 billion Embedded value: Increased by 33,1% Group operating profit: Decreased to RARE million Net group insurance premiums: Increased by 12,6% Total group income: Decreased by 13,7%. The operating profit was affected by the weaker returns on financial assets, compared to the previous year. But growth remained strong by most standards, even with the drop in annual growth pace: says Mr.. Weasels. Celebrating our 95th birthday in 2009 proves that we are a truly seasoned company: Just as a forest is an example of long-term growth, so Spousal Life celebrates 95 years of growing and reaching its goals.
The seeds sown in 1913 by a handful of people have flourished into a forest. We also view each policy as a sapling that will eventually grow into financial liberation for the policyholder. Growth rings in trees reflect both good and bad years. We echo this pattern by controlling expenses and nurturing favorable conditions to ensure continuous growth.
The interim year-to-date results indicate a premium growth of 11% and new business volumes growing by%. Managing expenses effectively has led to a marginal decrease in group income, despite increasing pressures.
With a proud tradition of superior client value, Spousal Life has laid down firm roots in the South African market. These roots will remain steadfast in an environment where it has become increasingly important to provide for the impact of life-changing vents. We will continue growing our forest of wealth and empowering our policyholders to gain financial freedom.
SPOUSAL LIFE 95 YEARS 39 The company’s history was linked with current business drivers and the symbol of trees became their metaphor for growth, strength and protection. Figure 6.
1 The Spousal Life tree Spousal Life believes that a company’s most valuable asset is its staff. ‘For us performance depends not only on what we deliver, but also on how we deliver it. Our success depends on the expertise, the energy, the motivation and the diversity of our CEO Cert. Weasels believes that ‘the staff s king’.
This belief reflects the company’s strong commitment to keeping staff not only happy and content, but proud of their company as well. He is convinced that happy and loyal staff will ensure happy clients.
He also knows that in order to keep staff happy, they need to be well-informed. For this reason all marketing drives in Spousal Life are directed towards staff in the first instance (so called ‘internal marketing’). During the week of their birthday celebrations they involved head office and their 1 5 regional offices in planting 95 indigenous trees. Figure 6. Tree planting Recording the past The company then embarked on the ambitious project of recording the company history. Journals dating back to 1914 were hauled out of the archives, then studied and summarized.
The agenda of each and every annual general meeting of the past 95 years was summarized and the financial results of every year interpreted. This allowed the financial department to compile graphs that illustrated the company’s growth. The timeline of Spousal Life was divided into ten decades and linked to the history of South Africa and the world.
Ten canvasses were made, each representing a decade of the history of Spousal Life ND of mankind. Relevant photographs reflecting the era, culture and events of the time were selected and collagen in the letters that spell Spousal Life. This set of panels was unveiled during the birthday celebrations on 1 5 July 2009.
Figure 6. 3 Spousal Life panels An overview AT ten company’s nelsons was also peduncles In KICK Tort Ana ten leather-bound copies were presented to the executive directors of the Board, the Chairman of the Board and Coos of subsidiary companies.
Employing history to strengthen the brand The purpose of delving into the past was to sensitive employees to the company’s rood legacy of protection and trust and to strengthen the expectation of the brand experience. The original or main fund came into being in 1913 when members of the police force donated money to the family of a deceased member. SPOUSAL LIFE: gas YEARS 41 On 15 July 1914, The Fund was officially established with 840 members.
These members all declared their desire to look after their own’.
For nearly 80 years the company exclusively serviced niche markets such as members of the police force and members of the correctional services. It was only in 1993 that Spousal Life opened its doors to all the people of South Africa. Despite being the insurer of police members who, due to the nature of their work, are considered to be of a high-risk profile, the company built a proud legacy of paying claims in record time. Family members of policemen (policyholders) who died on duty, in action or due to natural or accidental causes received their Spousal Life benefits in record time.
The study of their history also revealed that the company maintained its commitment to its members, no matter what the circumstances.
In 1919 (then only five years old), the Fund was almost bankrupted when many of its members died during the flu epidemic of that year. It nonetheless kept its promise to members by paying beneficiaries their benefits and managed to pull through. It also fulfilled its commitment to members who served in the First and Second World Wars, and those who died in the border war and during the subsequent years of conflict in the seventies and eighties.
The nineties saw an unprecedented number of deaths among policemen as a result of the high incidence of crime in South Africa during that period. When Spousal Life opened its doors to the broader public in the early nineties, it could offer its unique products to the middle and lower income groups.
Products such as the School Fund Provider and the Family Funeral Plan became instant hits. The claim made in advertising on TV, radio and in the print media that the company pays funeral claims within 48 hours after receiving the necessary documents is as true today as it was in the past.
Every year the company’s corporate marketing team phones hundreds of policyholders to verify whether they have in fact received their pay-outs in record time. These clients are so grateful and impressed with the services of Spousal Life that they willingly and without payment participate in elevation and radio infomercials to testify that they received payments in less than 48 hours. Both their historical records and reputation of 95 years bear witness to the fact that their brand is synonymous with trust.
This knowledge not only contributes to tenet Drain management to strengthen ten consumers perception AT but also promotes brand recognition.
Spousal Life’s promise ‘To be trusted to deliver excellence’ is Spousal Life’s core philosophy. Spousal Life has lived this philosophy over the past 95 years: the promise of exceptional service delivery to all Spousal Life clients in the shortest possible time, anytime and anywhere through all the branches, representatives, agents or brokers. 42 The Spousal Life group of companies today has more than one million members.
The company executes its promise effectively because it upholds its traditional and historical values of service excellence. These values include among others: Listen to and engage cuss:She?e CHI’ (elope who have seen thousands of bees. Tamers one- on-one.
Hut NFG”? a Joe?est…. Liberal Mess/me Man of Tim 70th c”‘our Build relationships rather than campaigns. Create experiences rather than impressions.
W It is what the company aspires o continue doing for the next AS years – to fulfill the aspirations of the small group of individuals who formed this organization in 1913.
In today’s competitive environment, it is not enough to build great products at reasonable rates, it is also about service – how products are delivered and how your clients are treated. A f()?SSL is not small ill Hogue 6. 4 1 née Spousal Elite promise a season Historic perspective on growth It is said that ‘with experience comes perspective’. Researching the history of the company reminds one of the fact that companies often experience periods of little or no growth.
The historical timeline of Spousal Life clearly shows that during the decades of the seventies and eighties the company went through a period of innovation and stagnation.
To combat this, Spousal Life took a new direction in the nineties and started growing the company with the theme: ‘Traditional values, progressive and innovative ideas. ‘ In less than IS years progressive and innovative thinking transformed Spousal Life into a growing giant. By the end of the nineties, at the beginning of the new millennium, the company reported a growth of 130% in premium income and 110% growth in investment income. New markets were opening up and by 2002 some 50% of new business was generated from outside of the Police Force and Correctional Services.
In the 2002/2003 period, income from premiums increased by 28,2% which translated into an income of ROR million – the highest growth in rand value since the establishment of the company. The success of Spousal Life is also reflected in it scoring the highest ranking among 24 insurance companies for high standards of client service and levels of security in 2006 and in the interest shown by the World Bank in 2008 to acquire a 0% stake in the business of the company at a cost of RI 50 million.
