Axa UK appoints Havas to handle buying
Axa UK has appointed Havas Media UK to handle its £40 million media buying account in the first stage of an overhaul of its agency roster in a bid to streamline costs and improve efficiencies.
Havas Media, which includes Arena BLM and MPG, will work on all Axa brands, including Sun Life and Swiftcover.
Axa group marketing and communications director Olivier Mariée says: “Axa has a strong brand in the UK. By appointing Havas to manage our media buying I believe it will provide us with increased strength and efficiency which will further enable us to develop our red line advertising campaign and messaging to consumers.”
The appointment sees a consolidation across Axa’s brands. The previous incumbent on the Axa-branded general insurance business was Mindshare. The offline incumbent for Swiftcover was Initiative and Sun Life Direct was handled by MPG and All Response Media.
Saatchi & Saatchi was appointed to the work on the main brand last year and developed the new “Redefining standards” strapline for a campaign last October.
The new strapline was created to help tackle the consumer mistrust in financial institutions and replaced the line “Be life confident.”
Sun Life was turned into a standalone brand earlier this year.
Swiftcover signed up rocker Iggy Pop to feature in a campaign earlier this year. The campaign was rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority as being misleading because Swiftcover does not insure entertainers.
