Title	A NEW HANDWRITING
Brand	MERKUR INSURANCE
Product/Service	INSURANCE
Category	A01. Corporate Reputation & Communication
Entrant Company	ARTS & CRAFTS VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Advertising Agency	ARTS & CRAFTS VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Name	Company	Position
Gerd Haselsteiner	Arts/Crafts Vienna	Co-founder/Creative Director
Tom Krutt	Arts/Crafts Vienna	Co-founder/Creative Director
Johanna Edelmann	Arts/Crafts Vienna	Graphic Designer
Roland Vorlaufer	Roland Vorlaufer	Illustrator
Gerald Kogler	Merkur	Ceo/Head Of Marketing
Martin Ohde	Merkur	Head Of Finance
Birgit Stampfl	Merkur	Pr Content
Ilse Lilek	Merkur	Project Management

The Campaign

The new board of directors of tradition-steeped insurance company Merkur from Austria has opened a new chapter in the company history by implementing a corporate culture of partnership and collaboration of equal partners in 2014, giving the company a new style, or a “new handwriting” as a German phrase goes. The concept of the annual report takes the notion of a “new handwriting” literally: all 176 pages of the report were written by hand – letter by letter, figure by figure, table by table – by the company staff ranging from doorman to CEO and assistants. Even the photos were drawn by hand. Handwritten by those people who actually had contributed to the success story of the year 2014, the idea of handmade craftsmanship is taken up and continued in the tactile experience of the book, featuring an elaborate technique with an open spine, which was hand-sewn by the company’s local bookbinder. The discreet design adds only one single colour, the house colour green, for subtle highlights, in order to dedicate the stage to the newly incorporated sense of group identity, expressed in each single letter. For the first time since 1798 the Merkur people felt what the word “we“ could mean. Employees and journalists alike ordered 1.500 copies, the annual report was out of stock within three days. The joint effort has strong impact on the brand’s perception inside and outside of Merkur. 39 national and international newspapers and TV stations covered the story.

The Brief

Merkur, Austria's oldest insurance, had developed a heritage of hierarchies and inaccessibility. The new team of directors lead Merkur on the new path of openness and partnership. The annual report 2014 should communicate this very change of the core values of the company and its move to become an accessible, open brand, This message was to be directed both to the own team members and the external partners, stakeholders, clients and potential clients.

Execution

• An event for all Merkur employees and local media was set up to explain the project and its strategic background • During an entire week in April 2014 people from all group countries, offices, departments gathered to write the annual report. This week was accompanied by coverage in the company's media – web, social networks and the intranet. A celebration of a new spirit. • 4th of May 2015: during a press conference – agenda was handwritten by the CEO of course – the annual report and the documentation of the report was presented to dozens of journalists. • From 4th of May to 7 th of May 1.500 copies of the annual report were ordered online by employees and journalists from all “Merkur countries“; • 39 news clippings werde counted only in Austria, 7 TV stations reported about the uncommon project

The outcome of the entire process of the joint effort and its publication was impressing: the annual report was presented during a press conference. After the event journalists and employees alike ordered hundreds of copies. The first edition of 1.500 copies was out of stock within three days. 20 newspapers and their web sites reported, so did 12 magazines and 7 TV-stations. • Internal impact: An internal survey after the process of writing and publishing the annual report showed that the identification of employees with the company was raised by 37 %. • External impact: The attitude of the public could be shifted from 13 % of “somewhat positive“; to over 22 % and of 24 % of “quite positive“ to over 37 %, “quite negative“ went down from 5 % to 0,2 %. Key message penetration was at 74,1 % in the targeted groups after the communication process. The Merkur website traffic grew by over 58 % right after the publication and its coverage.

The Strategy

Merkur over the years had become a boring, bureaucratic office of lawyers and insurance mathematics experts. 2014 was the first year of a new style, a new handwriting as we say in the German language. New directors launched a new chapter of partnership. Annual reports are one of the most important channels of corporate communication in the financial business. The annual report 2014 became the logbook of this very change. The strategic concept of the annual report and its PR campaign was founded on the joint effort of individuals. Documenting the year's success became a team project instead of the directors' showpiece. A publication with an extraordinarily human message that demonstrated that Merkur has changed to a company where humans –clients, partners and employees alike – are more than a cog in the machine. A radically proper new positioning for an insurance company in the human health sector.