Tag: Great Eastern

Singapore – Havas Media Singapore has been appointed as the integrated media agency of record for the Singapore business of Great Eastern, a financial services provider. The agency won the media mandate after a competitive pitch process.

As the integrated media agency of record, Havas Media Singapore is responsible for developing and executing media strategies. It is also tasked to oversee planning and buying across online and offline channels to support Great Eastern’s growth.

Great Eastern selected Havas Media for its innovative approach to delivering results based on its marketing objectives.

“We are honoured to embark with Great Eastern on this partnership, a brand that shares our commitment to delivering meaningful impact. As we continue to invest in our digital capabilities and tools to enhance client centricity and collaboration, we look forward to elevating Great Eastern’s brand presence and supporting their mission to empower customers to Reach For Great,” Russell Lai, chief commercial officer of Havas Media Network Singapore, said.

Keith Chia, head of group brand and marketing at Great Eastern Singapore, commented, “Havas Media’s data-driven, digitally forward approach combined with their thorough understanding of our brand and business objectives assured us they were a good fit. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration as we continue to further strengthen our brand with our customers and engage the next generation of younger audiences.”

Singapore – OCBC has announced that it is offering a S$1.4 billion voluntary unconditional general offer for the 11.56% stake in Great Eastern that it does not currently own. For the bank, this move is aimed at strengthening OCBC’s business pillars of banking, wealth management and insurance, and optimising its capital to enhance shareholder returns.

With the Offer, OCBC intends to increase its investment in Great Eastern beyond its current stake of 88.44%, with a view to delisting the insurer from the SGX-ST.

OCBC’s corporate strategy gained strong momentum in 2023, leveraging OCBC’s strengths to capitalise on the vast opportunities in one of the world’s fastest-growing regions. The offer is therefore in line with OCBC’s strategy to solidify its wealth management leadership position to drive growth by capturing rising Asian wealth.

Helen Wong, chief executive officer at OCBC Group, said, “The offer is a natural progression of OCBC’s strategy. We have moved intentionally to build up a strong wealth management franchise by hiring the best people and instituting best practices and processes, and raising our investment in Great Eastern. We have been looking at opportunities to best use our capital and believe the Offer allows us to deploy our resources into a key business that is expected to be earnings accretive to OCBC.”

The offer is expected to be earnings accretive to OCBC. Great Eastern provides diversification to OCBC’s earnings base to deliver balanced earnings growth through economic cycles. Great Eastern has contributed an average of about S$700m annually in net profit to OCBC over the past 10 years, which translates to an average of about 15% of OCBC’s annual net profit over this period.

Wong added, “This is not the first time that we are making an offer to increase our investment in Great Eastern – first in 2004, followed by 2006. As OCBC has been the majority shareholder of Great Eastern for the past 20 years, the Group has entrenched institutional knowledge and expertise to manage the insurance business. We are confident this exercise complements our One Group, One Brand strategy. This will further accelerate our ambitious wealth management plans and build even tighter bonds and synergies across all our business pillars and key markets.”

Singapore – Insurance provider Great Eastern’s latest campaign, created with BLKJ Havas, is an empathetic message of love to all Asian parents.

Parents often hold themselves to high standards, striving to be perfect for their children, but the truth is, no one is flawless. And in fact, great parenting doesn’t require perfection. This is the empowering message behind the latest regional campaign, launched across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, by BLKJ Havas and Great Eastern. 

The campaign addresses the unique pressures that Asian parents face and encourages them to embrace their imperfections and to be kind to themselves when they fall short. Unveiled through a heartwarming 60-second film, it serves as a poignant reminder that every parent needs a little help along the way and with Great Eastern, parents can seek financial guidance to protect their families and fulfil their aspirations. 

The campaign is further amplified through out-of-home executions across taxis, buses, MRT station displays and ongoing social content sharing parenting stories and tips. It also marks a 

a significant milestone for the brand as it follows on from the 2022 launch of Great Eastern’s new brand promise, ‘Reach for Great’. 

Keith Chia, head of group brand & marketing at Great Eastern, said, “We understand and empathise with the pressures modern parenting places on our customers, and we’re here to partner with them through their parenting journey. With our financial advisory and tailored [solutions,] we provide the assurance they need, so that they can be empowered to reach for their dreams, hopes and ambitions.” 

Joji Jacob, co-founder of BLKJ Havas, said, “Being a parent is tough. Being an Asian parent is tougher because we hold ourselves up to unrealistic standards. With this [campaign,] we wanted to verbalise what every Asian parent is thinking but not saying. We don’t have to be perfect parents to do right by our kids. And with that message, we hope to give parents a bit of a breathing space and draw their attention to the well-thought out plans that Great Eastern offers for every stage of a child’s life.”

Singapore – To mark Great Eastern’s 114th anniversary, the regional insurer has unveiled its new brand purpose – ‘Reach for Great’ – which expresses its promise to be a partner and enabler of its customers’ ambitions and aspirations. This brand refresh stems from extensive research involving more than 2,000 consumers across Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia done over the last two years.

Colin Chan, Great Eastern’s managing director of group marketing, shared that in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, they rallied their customers to live Lifeproof, encouraging them to be resilient and optimistic in the face of adversity, and at the same time, they kick-started extensive research across their key markets to better understand consumer expectations of their insurance partner, and specifically from Great Eastern as their insurer of choice. 

“Findings from our research pointed towards the enablement of goals with consumers expressing the desire for us to help them in the pursuit of their financial goals and aspirations. This heightened consciousness about the need for financial wellness has been further accelerated as we move out of COVID-19 into a more endemic state of pandemic living,” he said.

To communicate this new brand positioning, Great Eastern has developed a new visual identity with a distinctive new headline typeface, colour strategy, and illustration style added to its brand palette. Taking reference from Great Eastern’s first brand logo in the 1900s, the new visuals sport a heritage crest to reflect its establishment as an inspiring and trusted insurance brand in the region. This new iconic and distinct treatment will be visible in all marketing material, which will be rolled out regionally across Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia in the next few months.

Moreover, to launch ‘Reach for Great’ in a relevant and compelling way, Great Eastern has also unveiled a new campaign and brand film featuring consumer profiles across Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia going about the unique pursuit of their own ‘greatness’. The real-life stories across the region capture the vast diversity of consumer’s goals and ambitions and show how Great Eastern is able to help them ‘Reach for Great’ through its combination of heritage, expertise, and inspiration, as the brand that believes in empowering everyone to achieve their aspirations no matter how big or small.

Chan added, “This refresh elevates our continuing and unique value proposition as a composite insurer to empower everyone to Reach for Great regardless of their aspirations, life stage or socio-economic status. We believe that Great is for everyone and that Greatness comes in many forms. Through the authentic stories of the people filmed in our brand film, we are that insurer of choice that will be there for life, to enable our customers to achieve their goals and #ReachforGreat.”

The new brand campaign is now available across free-to-air television, digital and social media, website, and out-of-home advertising across its key markets. Consumers can also interact with the brand as it rolls out a slew of product initiatives, rewards, and promotions from September onwards.

Singapore – In collaboration with lifestyle and travel website The Travel Intern and shopping platform RebateMango, Singapore-based insurance company Great Eastern has launched UPGREAT Virtual Vacay, a new virtual travel and booking platform that offers the comfort and safety of traveling from the users’ own homes.

The platform currently showcases three destinations – Japan, New Zealand, and Taiwan through immersive curated virtual tours. Users will be able to customize their travel experience from deciding where to go, what to do, and what to eat. 

For example, virtually going through Japan, users can Go-Kart through Shibuya and visit Tokyo barsMeanwhile, opting to go to New Zealand will enable users to vitually  wander around the Hobbiton movie set, while a Taiwan virtual trip lets users go through the night markets or take a food tour at Jiufen Old Street.

In the Singapore destination, the platform offers customised staycation itineraries designed to encourage users to explore local sights such as Chinatown, Kampong Glam and Downtown Core.

The company said that in the coming weeks, users can expect for more destinations to be added in the platform such as Korea and Taiwan.

UPGREAT Virtual Vacay will be offering  promotions, rewards, and bundles with travel partners such as Booking.com, Hotels Combined, and Agoda. In celebration of the launch, the application’s “Shop & Earn” feature will also be offering double UPGREAT points which can be earned through travel bookings in Agoda, Klook, and Expedia.  

In addition to this, once users register on the platform, they can receive a complimentary one-year GREAT Value Protect plan, which provides a daily hospital cash benefit for up to 14 days if the user is hospitalized due to COVID-19, Dengue Fever, Yellow Fever, Zika, food poisoning, and accidents, as well as death benefits due to accidents or COVID-19.UPGREAT will also make available to  consumers Travel E@sy, which allows them to reserve their travel insurance plan for any future travel from 2021 at a 60% discount onregular prices,

Ryan Cheong, managing director of digital for business at Great Eastern said, “The love for travel is such a big part of our Singaporean DNA. With UPGREAT Virtual Vacay, we aim to bring customized experiences and travel benefits to our hundreds of thousands of UPGREAT members and all who can’t wait to get out and about. As the Life company, we aim to delight our followers on our digital channels in the areas most exciting to them, and UPGREAT Virtual Vacay is a great way to do this.”

Meanwhile, Hendric Tay, co-founder of The Travel Intern said, “With limited opportunities for physical travel, all we wanted was to be transported to our favorite destinations. Collaborating with Great Eastern to design virtual travel journeys was immensely fun for the team. We hope this can bring delight to anyone who has had to cancel their travel adventures this year, regardless of their travel styles.”

The UPGREAT app is not restricted to Great Eastern customers and is free for anyone in Singapore to join.