Why FWD does not act like a traditional insurance brand and sponsors music festivals
Last weekend saw the likes of Prodigy, Massive Attack, Stormzy and insurance brand FWD Group take to the stage in Hong Kong for the 2017 Clockenflap festival.
FWD sponsors music festival Clockenflap to show it's not traditional
FWD Group may not particularly belong in a sentence like that but nevertheless it was at the festival in sponsorship capacity. Usually the arena for beer and entertainment brands, FWD Group decided that being a part of the event would help it articulate that it isn’t a traditional insurance brand.
Speaking to The Drum, Tim Oliver, group chief commercial officer at FWD Group, explained that festivals helped a challenger brand gain cut through, while going against the grain of traditional insurers was actually a key objective.
“We are a challenger brand with a vision is to change the way people feel about insurance. Sponsoring a music festival fits this vision perfectly. Clockenflap has grown to become one of Asia’s cultural highlights in the region’s annual calendar and with a line-up of world-class talent and household names. In particular, this year is the 10th anniversary of Clockenflap so we’re delighted to continue our partnership for this significant milestone in Clockenflap’s history,” he explained.
According to Oliver, the brand aligns itself to similar attributes to the festival scene: “Perhaps unusual for a traditional insurance brand. However, our brand is built on being dynamic, fresh, vibrant and surprising in order to challenge the status quo and change the way people feel about insurance. The fact that people may think it is unusual is music to our ears as it means that we are succeeding in our ambition.”
For FWD, a key differentiator is how it talks about insurance and what it brings to people’s lives. Rather than it being something that occurs around negatives, FWD wants it to be seen as something that creates more freedom for people.
“We believe music is a great connection to all our target audience and customers, many of whom would choose to spend this weekend at Clockenflap. We also believe that insurance shouldn’t be driven by worry but instead that it should enable people to feel confident to pursue their passions and celebrate living, safe in the knowledge that FWD has their back. At Clockenflap we will bring this brand vision to life by presenting FWD Passionland and a Silent Disco, both powered by our customer engagement platform “FWD MAX”, to give music fans the chance to express their creativity and have a bit of fun,” he said.
As to how this is communicated to those who could not attend the festival at the weekend, Oliver said amplification was mainly focused on social media.
“We will mainly use social media to create Clockenflap chat and engage fans and customers through various rewards and promotions, while encouraging them to join the FWD MAX platform to experience Clockenflap firsthand, even if they weren’t able to be there in person this year,” he added.