Alexander Forbes – Brands & Branding 2018
WHAT CUSTOMERS HAVE TO SAY
At Alexander Forbes, the customer sits at the centre of the brand’s Ambition 2022 strategy, strategy that aims to deliver on the brand’s promise… securing your financial well-being for a lifetime.
The brand is represented by their people. Whether it is a sales consultant, a receptionist or one of the customer 
contact centres – each employee has a role in delivering on the brand.
Customer First is not just a company value, it is also an imperative to create value in order to meet strategic business objectives.
Customer First cannot simply be a brand mantra, but rather a series of processes, actions and thinking to deliver to customer.
Alexander Forbes undertook extensive market research to understand how the brand is currently experienced by customers. Findings indicate that the company is favourably perceived by customers: they agree that the proposition of Financial Well-being means enabling them to‘take care of my family and those I care about’ and‘having money or regular income in my retirement.’
Brands that put their customers first increase loyalty, and according to the results,their customers remain loyal and are content to be partnered through their financial well-being journey. Nearly 90 percent of B2B clients believe that focus on employee financial well-being is an important consideration in their selection of a retirement fund provider, but need help linking it to tangible business benefits.All customers seek more communication and engagement and in order to feel more valued by the business.
Says Stevens, “The key take-out for us is that the organisation must continue to understand, solve and take care of customers’ needs in order grow our business. We therefore identified and prioritised four key initiatives to improve the overall customer experience.”
Their first priority, revitalising Customer Service Standards,was designed to impact all company stakeholder relationships and to build a culture of customer centricity.
Stevens elaborates, “The challenge was to bring Customer First alive in the hearts and minds of all our Alexander Forbes colleagues,across the breadth and depth of our Pan-African business and provide a solid platform for the larger initiatives being rolled out.”
The Customer First campaign features a variety of customer personas based on real demographic profiles –to deepen understanding of their needs and expectations, underpinned by the four Service Standards.
It was launched with a brand activation where employees were greeted by Customer First representatives on arrival at the office, supported by promotional handouts, messaging screens, posters and life-sized standees of an airline pilot, a chef or a pensioner florist – all asking how you will deliver on our service standards. Messaging is supported by video, menu stands, boardroom messaging and leadership reinforcement, keeping customer top of the meeting agenda and top of mind for Alexander Forbes employees.
The next phase of communication aims to capture, share and recognise those good news stories of the Customer First heroes who go above and beyond to deliver outstanding customer service.
Clients and Research Institute, to develop and deliver innovative and best of breed consulting and advice-led solutions that help client businesses solve financial wellness, employee engagement and productivity challenges that negatively impact the bottom-line. This was a key insight in creating the ‘Know More. Grow More’ positioning campaign platform for Alexander Forbes’ Employee benefits. The campaign had two key target audiences: employers and employees, as the brand partners with both parties to help them make and get the most out of their employee benefits to achieve a lifetime of financial well-being.
Since Alexander Forbes has been working with South African companies for more than 85 years, they truly have expert insight into employers and employees. This knowledge is what helps the brand put businesses at an advantage when it comes to employee benefits and creating a financial well-being ecosystem. The creative interpretation of ‘Know More. Grow More’ took the form of a series of headlines, speaking to the way that the brand does not only gather and process insights and knowledge, but use it to create bespoke solutions for each of our 2000+ clients. That’s the beauty of knowledge, applied. The campaign used the actual beauty of the centre of knowledge; the human brain, where data and facts are processed and stored, and turned into something even more valuable; knowledge. Artwork created from brain scans creates striking and intriguing images, from the more abstract close-ups to the instantly recognisable.