This week, Hollard launched a first-of-its-kind insurance initiative that allows policyholders to earn up to 20% of their insurance premiums back by clocking volunteer hours in their communities.
What Is ChangeMaker?
For more than 40 years, Hollard’s brand purpose has been “enabling more people to create and secure a better future” – a message that was echoed in their advertising campaigns. But in an environment where many South Africans don’t even have their basic needs met, this message was beginning to sound hollow. ChangeMaker encourages South Africans to be part of the solution by rewarding them for making a difference in their communities. It offers qualifying Hollard policyholders the opportunity to earn up to 20% back on their insurance premiums through volunteer time. And it turns a grudge purchase – insurance – into an opportunity to make a meaningful impact in an area close to the customer’s heart, proving that small acts can make a big difference.
Heidi Brauer, Hollard’s Chief Marketing officer says, “South Africa and the world have been in a pretty dark place over the last two years. That really got us thinking about how we could go beyond our core business and do more to fulfil our organisational purpose, which is to enable more people to create and secure a better future. We asked ourselves how we could create change at a big enough scale to make a real difference. We wanted to create a way for South Africans to take an active role in improving the future, not only for themselves but for the most vulnerable in our society.”
Pulling It All Together
Conceptualising ChangeMaker was an audacious and complex undertaking that’s been more than a year in the making and involved close collaboration between Hollard’s actuaries, their agency, VMLY&R, and their NGO partner, forgood, a volunteer-cause connector, which shares similar values to Hollard: catalysing positive and enduring change. Through this partnership, Hollard Changemakers are connected with hundreds of causes, allowing them to select one that best suits their talents and availability – thereby enabling more people to create and secure a better future.
“By partnering with with leading South African volunteering platform, forgood, we’ve made it easy for anyone who wishes to volunteer to find a charitable organisation aligned with their interests, abilities and geographical location,” says Brauer. “Some causes even allow for online volunteering, so physical location is not always an issue. We’re optimistic that making it easy to make a difference, we’ll unleash the power of volunteering at mass scale at a time when South Africa – and the world – needs everyone to be a change maker.”
“We are incredibly excited and passionate about this piece of work because it goes beyond advertising and talking about what we believe and instead really activates Hollard's brand purpose in a meaningful way,” adds Ryan McManus, Chief Creative Officer at VMLY&R.
How ChangeMaker Works
Qualifying Hollard policyholders can register for ChangeMaker online by visiting the website. Once verified and signed up, they can browse the forgood Hollard ChangeMaker site to find a volunteer activity that resonates with them. The dashboard updates in real time, showing when each month’s campaign ends and how many volunteer spots are still available. Then, all they need to do is perform and log the activity. The reward will be paid directly into the bank account from which their qualifying premium is debited at the end of the following month.
Who Qualifies?
The campaign offers three ways for people to be a Hollard Changemaker:
1/ If you’re not an existing Hollard client…
Everyone can volunteer through Hollard’s partner forgood and help communities in need.
2/ If you’re not an existing Hollard client but want to sign up…
Chat to your broker about how to sign up and become a Hollard Changemaker. You will become eligible to participate in the campaign once you have paid your first insurance premium on your qualifying Hollard life policy.
3/ If you have an existing Hollard policy with a qualifying life insurance product…
You can earn up to 20% of your premium back with volunteer hours! To qualify, you must have a fully underwritten Hollard life policy.
Catalyst for Positive and Enduring Change
Hollard has always been a purpose-driven organisation with strong values. ChangeMaker is evidence of their assertion that “there’s always a better way.” It’s a powerful demonstration of Hollard’s brand purpose, inspiring all South Africans to become active citizens. “The idea is born out of the resilience and strength of South Africans – but also from the way we can, at our best, work together to make our country better. It has been a unique collaboration and huge team effort to get this made and we hope the passion of everyone involved spills into the co-creation of a better future. Because if we all do something small, it really does create change,” says McManus.
Website:
Social media:
Twitter: @Hollard
IG: @hollardgram
#HollardChangeMaker
#MakeBigChange
#BetterRutures
ISSUED BY VMLY&R
For more information on VMLY&R:
Press Enquiries:
Ben Wagner
Head of PR & Marketing
About VMLY&R
VMLY&R is a global brand and customer experience agency that harnesses creativity, technology, and culture to create connected brands. Made up of more than 11,000 employees worldwide, the agency has principal offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. VMLY&R works with client partners including Absa, BAT, Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Dell, Ford, Nando’s, New Balance, Pfizer, Vodacom and Wendy's. For more information, visit www.vmlyr.com. VMLY&R is a WPP company (NYSE: WPP).
About Hollard
Established in 1980, the Hollard Insurance Group (“Hollard”) provides short-term and life insurance as well as investment products to a diverse customer base including individual consumers, commercial entities, and corporate clients. It ranks among a growing number of companies advocating an inclusive growth model, measuring its social dividends as well as its contribution to shareholders. Hollard’s organisational Purpose is to enable more people to create and secure a better future.
Hollard South Africa and Hollard International wrote a combined premium income in excess of R23-billion in the year to June 2021 across short-term and life insurance operations in countries across Africa and Asia, namely South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and the Philippines.
Since inception, partnership has been at the heart of its business model, with the group today boasting over 100 ventures across the insurance value chain. Each one demonstrates the Hollard belief that there is always a better way and the idea of “win-win-win”, whereby Hollard, the partner and the consumer all win through this spirit of collaboration and co-creation.