Profile... Meadows brings Aviva to Singapore's masses

At a time when finance brands are battling to regain public trust, Shaun Meadows has no qualms about being “mass-market”.

For a start, the CEO of insurance brand Aviva for Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East has put his faith in a sponsorship strategy at a time when many finance brands are scaling back their activity in the sector. What’s more, the finance brand recently rolled out a campaign in the city-state called ‘The Futurator’, involving touch-screen and projection technology in a mall to encourage people to plan their financial future.

The company’s two key sponsorships in Singapore are the Ironman event and the Singapore Badminton Open. As a marketer-turned-CEO, he is confident they have a strong business case behind them. “We do not carry sponsorships just because they are nice to have, but because they provide return on investment. When your name becomes synonymous with an event then you achieve a breakthrough.”

The mild-mannered Briton has been in the city-state for 18 months, having been in the insurance industry for 26 years and at UK-based Aviva for 20. Singapore appears to be his focus; its sponsorship in Hong Kong has been restricted to small-scale grassroots activity, with a shirt sponsorship deal with local football team Convoy Sun Hei.

Meadows explains that Aviva has been trying to promote its brand in Singapore to position itself apart from some of its rivals. The company’s objective is to be a “much more progressive and challenging brand” compared to others which rely on their company history and heritage. So far it seems to be working. In his time in Singapore the company has achieved 30 per cent growth in regular premiums in the market. Meadows attributes this success to standing apart from what is being offered by other insurance brands. “We have different distribution mix and a diverse product focus. In distribution we have two key channels and they are IFAs [independent financial advisors] and the banks. In terms of product, we are different as we try to sell regular premium business and build a closer relationship with the customer.”

Brands such as AIA and Prudential, he argues, have up to 80 per cent of their business coming from agencies or direct sales forces, and only 20 per cent from banks and independent advisors.

Jean-Paul Burge, CEO of BBDO/Proximity Singapore, the agency that handled the ‘Futurator’ campaign, confirms that Meadows has a very clear idea of what he wants to achieve. “He is a very experienced client. He understands the value of great creative work and does not believe that good creative is mutually exclusive from great effective work - he basically knows what to ask for.”

His confidence in his marketing strategy follows a challenging stint as marketing director of Norwich Union in the UK. There he spearheaded the multimillion-dollar global rebranding process for Aviva, launched in 2007 and completed only a few weeks ago.

The process saw 40 different trading names brought under the Aviva brand. It was not always popular, especially in the UK where Norwich Union was an established, trusted brand.

“The first step that the company took was to engage the staff,” Meadows recalls. “There were a number of sessions designed to talk about whatever they thought. While there was some passion about the heritage, there was energy and excitement about working for a global brand. When the staff were engaged, there was a communications exercise to engage customers and partners.”

Will that process help insulate Aviva from the backlash against finance? Meadows thinks it will and agrees that financial brands all over the world have become less trusted than they were half a year ago. In that period Aviva has used public relations, press, radio and messaging from partners to help protect its reputation.

“We are not just here to sell products to people but we are here to help people through the information we are providing. Our messaging last year before the crisis would have been that we are strong company, we have been here for a long time and we are here to help you,” he says. Now, however, the approach has to be more subtle.

“We probably don’t need to talk about the strength of our company now. The market is not shaken by that message.”

Shaun Meadows’ CV
2008 CEO, Aviva Singapore, Hong Kong, Middle East
2006 Marketing director, Norwich Union Insurance
2005 Marketing director, RAC
2003 Director of customer service programme, Norwich Union Insurance
2000 Head of channel management, norwichunion.com
1996 Head of sales and marketing strategy, Norwich Union Life