Berjaya Sompo brings back Silent Guardians for post-MCO mission

Berjaya Sompo Insurance has launched its latest integrated thematic campaign featuring its "Silent Guardian" characters. The characters are making a timely return to assist the concept’s central character Hafiz adapt to life in the midst of ongoing COVID-19 concerns.

In the latest campaign, five characters play the roles of different warriors, each representing the five categories of insurance Berjaya Sompo provides - home, personal accident, motor, health and travel insurance. The spot showcases the warriors helping people in their day to day lives in relation to the insurance type.

The campaign runs until 20 December 2020 on YouTube, print, Google’s display network and Spotify. It will also feature two gift-with-purchase promotions, the first scheduled for end August and the other for November. In March, Berjaya Sompo appointed FCB Kuala Lumpur for integrated duties covering creative and digital marketing, and Trapper Media for media buying duties excluding OOH, to Trapper Media for a period of year in Malaysia, following a pitch.

Mawarni Adam, head of brand, marketing communications and CX of Berjaya Sompo Insurance explained that since its launch in 2018, "Silent Guardians" was always seen as "an unconventional approach" by a general insurer at that time which proved to be a success, dialling up awareness and affinity for the brand.

"We had always envisioned 2020 to be the year where the final instalment of the three-year theme took place, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the campaign almost didn’t materialise. With a strong collaboration between Berjaya Sompo and FCB, we successfully pivoted, and the original plan of leveraging on Tokyo 2020 transformed into a new narrative centred on creating a culture of care that befitted an evolving brand that cares for its customers," Mawarni said.

Ong Shi Ping, CCO of FCB Malaysia, added that the production started once the MCO was lifted and at that time, the team was not sure if the campaign’s message would still resonate when it’s launched. "After the past couple of months, it’s now clear that whilst the situation has improved tremendously, we should still exercise care, caution and civic mindedness. That’s how we can protect ourselves and the community around us,” Ong said.

When asked about the differences between this iteration and the previous chapters, Shaun Tay, CEO of FCB Malaysia, said the team had always envisioned the audience, which is represented by the protagonist of the film, taking a more active role in the protection narrative.

"The reworked campaign represents that threefold; people need to be conscious of the current reality whilst maintaining their own lifestyles, and that’s done by making smart decisions with the confidence of a quality insurance provider," he explained.

The brand campaign was first launched in 2018 with the introduction of “Silent Guardians”, the five iconic Japanese warriors, Ninja, Samurai, Karateka, Sumo and Kendoka. Subsequently in 2019, it rolled out the second campaign "Silent Guardians - The Prequel". When asked how Berjaya Sompo plans to retain top of mind awareness during this period, Adam said word-of-mouth and organic traction arising from the services it offers would certainly be valuable. She explained that when resources are limited, especially in times of crisis, it will require the company to be innovative in its customer engagement approach to retain top of mind awareness. As such, it will be looking at those options in its activations.

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