Summary
Hymans Robertson is one of the leading pensions and benefits consultancies in the UK. It employs 500 people, operates from four offices in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and work with pension scheme trustees, corporate sponsors and public sector organisations. However, they are perceived as smaller than they really are, exclusively Scottish rather than UK-wide, and as public sector specialists. Our campaign was designed to correct these misperceptions and help Hymans Robertson build market share.
The company has used the hobbies and interests of its employees in its marketing before – the company’s strapline used to refer to “Real people” – but we wanted to take things further and explain why employing interesting, talented people is ultimately good news for Hymans Robertson’s clients.
We took eight characters from around the business, commissioned professional caricaturists to draw them and built seven ads (one ad featured two people) around their skills and interests.
We photographed the characters at the moment they saw their portraits for the first time, capturing their reactions to reveal their true personalities. The creative was used for ads in the trade press, a 96-sheet poster at the Pensions Show and a fleet of branded London taxis.
The client company
Hymans Robertson is one of the top five pensions and employee benefits consultancy nationwide.
The company is an independent LLP, with 15 equity members who wholly own the firm. They employ 500 staff across four UK offices.
The company is steadfastly independent in its mindset, priding itself on innovation, forward thinking and the frank impartial advice it offers its clients. Four of the company’s competitors have recently merged to create two huge consultancies, leaving Hymans Robertson as a lone, but increasingly valuable, independent voice.
However, there are misconceptions about Hymans Robertson in the market place. They are perceived to be small (and therefore not capable of handling the requirements of large clients), Scottish (and therefore not tuned into the requirements of English/London based companies), and a consultancy that only deals with the public sector. The company wishes to address these misconceptions, improve market awareness and grow its market share.
Objectives of the campaign
The objectives of the campaign were to:
• change market perceptions to reflect more clearly the breadth of what Hymans Robertson can do
• raise the profile of Hymans Robertson and build awareness
• showcase the real-life personalities and expertise of people within the business
• demonstrate a clear point of differentiation between Hymans Robertson and the competition.
If we achieve the above objectives, prospects looking for a new provider will think of Hymans Robertson first. They will want to switch because they would prefer to deal with one that is more friendly, confident and approachable.
Target audience
The target audience includes pension scheme trustees (independent and member elected), finance directors, human resource directors, compensation and benefit managers, and pensions managers and directors in
• the 500 largest DB (defined benefit) pension schemes in the UK
• FTSE 100-350 companies
• organisations of 2000+ employees.
Other influencers include Board level – CEOs, corporate treasurers, etc.
Hymans Robertson also targets local government pension schemes and the wider public sector, but this is not a focus for this campaign.
Creative strategy
In 2009, Hymans Robertson ran a series of ads in the trade press that received little attention. They concluded that they were not sufficiently bold or attention grabbing and that the messaging and design was too subtle.
Our campaign needed to stand out in the market place. It needed to be completely own-able (i.e. not a campaign that anyone else could run); it needed to highlight the skills and expertise that differentiates Hymans Robertson from the competition; and it had to accentuate all that is good about Hymans Robertson’s staff – their warmth, their skills, their personalities and their humour – and how it benefits clients.
We wanted to try and avoid straight photography as this had been done before. Our answer was caricatures. We developed seven key messages for the Hymans Robertson brand and then found a case study/Hymans Robertson employee to represent that message. In one case, two people were chosen. We commissioned five professional caricaturists (including our own creative director) to create portraits of our chosen staff. The portraits were framed and then unveiled by the subjects themselves at a photo shoot where we captured their immediate reactions. These photos became the adverts.
Media strategy
Our activity was focused firmly on the pensions industry and our objectives were to be highly targeted and have impact (and to outsmart our rivals with their bigger budgets). We therefore didn’t target every trade press title, preferring to opt for a few publications, including
• Professional Pensions
• Pensions Week
• Engaged Investor
• Pensions Insight
• Employee Benefits
We ran bursts of activity across the year.
We also used ambient media. A fleet of taxis in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Birmingham were branded. The London-based ones were used at the Pensions Show at London ExCeL.
Timescales
Following our successful pitch, we were appointed in May 2010 and the ads started running in September/October 2010. These ads are still running and following their success, an additional set of ads is planned to launch in October 2011.
Client testimonial
“At Hymans Robertson, we’re never frightened of taking a few creative risks; it’s all part of our independent mindset. We can’t outspend the competition, so we have to make our marketing and advertising really stand out. Creativity is our special weapon – and our independence lets us use it. Dnx’s caricature campaign captures us perfectly and sends out exactly the right messages: we’re real people with real skills delivering real results – and enjoying every minute of it.”
Terri Lucas, Marketing Director, Hymans Robertson