Burr was previously FCB regional account and new business director based in Singapore.
He takes up his new post this month and will work from Hong Kong overseeing marketing for AIG's life insurance businesses around the world. The newly-created position at AIG involves helping ensure greater consistency in brand communication across various markets. Burr will also be expected to develop new distribution channels, global alliances, strategic partnerships, as well as take best practices from one market and help apply it to another where applicable.
"This is not an advertising job but a classic marketing job, said Burr, who is a former insurance marketer. From 1991 to 1996, Burr worked in the UK and Belgium for US insurance company Cigna.
He started at Cigna as a regional account manager on bancassurance, responsible for Cigna's affiliate partners American Express and Citibank.
He then became general manager of The Alliance, a joint venture between US retailer JC Penney and Cigna, and was later UK and Ireland country manager for Cigna's accident and health division. He then left in 1996 to be the Southeast Asia regional managing director of Ogilvy & Mather Direct, now OgilvyOne. He was there for two years before joining FCB in 1998.
Burr said AIG wanted someone not currently in the insurance industry.
"(AIG) wanted someone with a point of view who could add to their knowledge and experience base.
"They were really interested in the market experience I had outside of their industry."
He said experience at FCB, working on Samsung and Compaq across various markets, helped because it, like the job at AIG, involved managing a brand across various markets.
Burr noted AIG spent relatively little on brand advertising, preferring to focus on below-the-line work. "The business model for AIG here has really been about developing the sales force and building a relationship with consumers at a ground level."
However, insurance companies such as Allianz has demonstrated how powerful global branding could be, said Burr. By comparison, AIG uses different brands for various markets - AIA (Asia), American Home (Australia), American General (US) among others. Burr said AIA, for example, was a well-known company in Asia, but it was not a well known brand. The task is to change that.
