Alliance Global Risks is one of the largest providers of international corporate insurance in the world, and provides coverage for the majority of US Fortune 500 companies through risk management products and services.
Each year, Allianz Global Risks in the US attends and sponsors the Risk & Insurance Management Society (RIMS) conference, which is widely recognised as the definitive risk management and insurance event. Ten thousand participants, and over 400 exhibitors, attend each year to tackle the issues facing the industry.
Attendance, exhibiting and sponsoring of conferences and trade shows is increasing in importance as a way of reaching and communicating with the right target audience and enhancing brands. A survey conducted in 2004 in the US by the MPI Foundation and the George P Johnson Company amongst 600 decision making marketing executives in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific, reported that 91 per cent perceive the importance of event marketing to be constant or increasing.
When ranking different marketing disciplines, 37 per cent of respondents claimed event marketing delivers the greatest return on investment. This placed it over and above direct marketing and sales promotion.
Within event marketing, trade shows were seen as the leading event type, followed by conferences and seminars. A similar study by the Centre for Exhibition Industry Research also shows that 14 per cent of business to business marketing budgets are now dedicated to trade shows and 72 per cent of trade show visitors say the event influenced their buying decisions.
Capturing the buzz Allianz Global Risks US was anxious to make an impact at RIMS and in 2003 appointed B2B communication specialist BPRI to help meet its objectives.
The solution the agency developed was called the ‘Allianz Daily Poll’. It was designed to capture conference buzz on key industry issues, thereby feeding dialogue amongst attendees and allowing Allianz to gauge the key concerns and challenges facing its current and potential customers. Building on the success of the 2003 poll, the scope was extended for 2004.
As part of its marketing plan Allianz focused on three main objectives for the 2004 RIMS conference.
1. To enhance its presence at the conference, building awareness of the organisation’s commitment to improving the purchasing experience.
2. To generate buzz and newsworthy insights that could be publicised at the conference and packaged and promoted to insurance brokers and buyers after the show.
3. Lay the groundwork for increased business by setting up direct meetings with key audiences.
The specific area Allianz Global Risks wanted to acknowledge and address at the conference was the poor standard of carrier service in the commercial insurance industry. Allianz had been focusing on how it could change its approach to serving brokers and buyers via a company wide initiative, hence positioning it as a thought-leader in this area.
BPRI used its Event Evaluator methodology to conduct the 2003 and 2004 polls. This is a tool developed to help organisations measure the effectiveness of their performance at business-to-business trade shows, exhibitions and conferences.
The full approach highlights the impact on customer/account team relationships, delegate expectations/satisfaction, and the impact on the brand,. It uses a variety of research techniques to elicit opinion from a diverse range of audiences.
A key element of Event Evaluator is the ability to survey delegates on a face-to-face basis, and capture their opinion in real time, using computer assisted personal interviewing methods (CAPI). This was vital in helping Allianz Global Risks fulfil its marketing objectives.
2004 conference delegates were surveyed on three main topics: service, policy insurance and industry views, the choice of which served to reinforce Allianz’s own credentials on service delivery. Additionally, by retaining a set of core key issue questions from the 2003 poll, Allianz was able to compare data over time to identify shifts in opinion. Just over 450 interviews were completed across two days and BPRI spoke with a range of people from different industry sectors and company sizes.
The findings were discussed at the end of each day with the Allianz team. The most meaningful results were reported at the conference the following day and shared with exhibit floor concession areas. Overnight an announcement was fed into the trade media. To ensure feedback coverage on day one, Allianz conducted an online pre-conference survey.
Following the conference, Allianz Global Risks US continued its marketing initiatives by producing three wrap-up reports summarising the key survey results. These were sent out to delegates as well as loaded onto the Allianz website for access. Each report highlighted the key findings of the survey, and used delegate verbatim quotes to describe the issues and add weight to the data.
The benefits to Allianz of using delegate feedback in this way are significant. Not only has it generated awareness of the organisation at and after the event, it enabled the client to differentiate against key competitors in two ways:
1. as a leader on key issues facing the industry by learning more about their target customer base
2. being able to adapt their own service to solve priority problem areas.
The campaign has had a positive impact on its marketing and business development strategy. All delegates interested in receiving the conclusive wrap-up reports submitted a business card after being surveyed. From this, the client built a database of new contacts to approach about their service offering.
The research has also helped to cement Allianz’s relationship with RIMS organiser, by giving it input into survey areas and in sharing the results.
Media coverage was successfully achieved within the conference publication and on a wider basis in Business Insurance magazine, which has an audience of executives responsible for the purchase and administration of corporate insurance. This platform enabled key findings to be publicly shared and for Allianz’s then-CEO, Kevin R Callahan, and senior VP of business management, Eric Joost, to take a public stand.
Charlene Barnard, Allianz Global Risks US head of marketing, comments: Sponsorship of a key industry conference is a significant commitment for any business. We wanted to think more creatively about our role and the value that could be gained by taking a unique approach.
A key element was to bring together two agencies that worked closely with us throughout the process. HSR Business-to-Business, an integrated marketing agency, drove the creative work and ran our media relations programme. BPRI handled the poll design and management and reporting of delegate feedback.
The added dimension of the collection of real-time opinion enabled us to be far more interactive with delegates, raise our profile on key issues that were important to them, as well as be more proactive in our media outreach during and after the event.
