Merkur Zavarovalnica – The “Because I’m a miracle of life” campaign

One of the largest Slovenian insurers entrusted us with the creative design and production of the entire campaign.

Insurance company Merkur decided to accompany the introduction of its new corporate image with an advertising campaign. We designed an advertising campaign centered around the miracle of life – a human. Our starting point was the client’s desire to improve the brand’s visibility, and the key principle guiding us when designing all advertising campaign activities was to bring the international corporation with 200 years of tradition closer to existing and potential customers with the help of socially engaged and personal stories.

The comprehensive, 360-degree advertising campaign required sophisticated and thought-out approach to communication. The project comprised a creative and media strategy, production of a TV ad and all other creative communication materials, as well as media buying on online and offline channels, digital advertising, public relations and event organization. Visually, the campaign was built on the signature green color of the Merkur insurance company, which was used in all communication elements of the campaign.

Target group

The campaign was targeted at men and women above 25 years of age in the consumer segment – B2C, as well as insurance agents in the business segment – B2B, who are essential in providing information to customers and concluding insurance contracts.

The overarching campaign idea

We first designed the overarching creative solution based on the main message “Because I’m a miracle of life”, which then provided the basis for designing materials for traditional and online channels and creative advertising. The campaign was designed around four characters representing different target groups – a father, a girl, a grandmother and a student. We wanted to create a bond between the institution (Merkur insurance company) and the target audience by having key marketing messages communicated by people to whom the target audience could relate, and not by the insurance company. We linked the birth of a child with Merkur’s rebirth and its new corporate identity.

Guerrilla activation – reveal of the logo

The client’s brief included the wish to present the logo with the slogan “Because I’m a miracle of life”, and to put humans, a miracle insured by Merkur, at the center. The challenge was to present the logo to the general audience differently, so it will leave a lasting impression. We decided to stage a guerrilla intervention, giving parts of the logo to six dancers who performed to a carefully designed choreography. We chose locations frequented by the target group; dancers entered from six directions, each carrying one part of the logo, which they put together in the center while dancing to an attractive choreography.

The objective was to create an appealing activation and a surprise that passers-by could share with their social media followers, while promoting the new brand identity and engaging the target audience with a vertical jigsaw made from cubes with the logo printed on two sides. Families had to piece together the jigsaw puzzle so that it showed the entire logo. The hostess presented those completing the task successfully with a small gift – a bag with a Merkur-branded jigsaw puzzle. The activation was accompanied by posts on social and other media. These activations were staged in Ljubljana, Maribor and Koper on locations frequented by families (parks, playgrounds).

Social responsibility and sustainability:

The strategic objective of socially engaged activations as part of the campaign is to carry out positive sustainably-oriented and socially responsible projects, as well as to raise awareness and modify internal processes for more sustainable operations. Caring for people and the environment and giving back to the community where you operate – taking the step forward and actually doing the good deeds that contribute to a better tomorrow. We designed these actions in collaboration with several organizations and initiatives whose past actions had earned them people’s trust. We focused on health: OnkoMan, sustainable projects: Ecologists without borders, Treecelet and social responsibility projects: the Zgodbe čudežev Slovenije (Stories of miracles of life) initiative and Lunina vila institute.

Results

The campaign grew into a message that significantly increased consumers’ interest in the Merkur brand, which means that the campaign included those essential elements needed to guarantee the success of the advertising campaign and fantastic results.

The number of individuals who said they saw the TV ad exceeded the target by 22%. Ads on illuminated displays and Gigaboards reached almost 18 million eye contacts, and the recall for billboards was above average in the 25–29 age group with 59%, as well as in the 40–49 group with 48%.

Throughout the advertising period, the ads were shown on Google, Facebook and YouTube almost 12 million times, generating almost 50,000 clicks on ads.