An explanatory article

Complete brand relaunch based on a strategy presentation. Is it possible? For the GHV, it is.

"Every presentation is a small strategy development."

Probably no one can confirm this more than Mr. Coenen of GHV Darmstadt. On the agenda of the agricultural insurer in the summer of 2018 were not just one, but three profound changes:

#01

The merger of two companies. GHV Darmstadt and HAVA Kassel - an insurer from horticulture - become GHV Insurance.

#02

The digitization of the company. The human-oriented character of both insurers should be preserved despite digitization.

#03

The expansion of the target audience. In a portfolio deliberately specialized in "green professions," private customers and pet owners should also be more strongly considered in the future.

So how do you let two companies grow together? How do you connect agricultural businesses and private customers? How do you merge digitization with personal contact? And how do you ultimately communicate the result?

Each of these projects would have required a strategic realignment and new external communication. An appointment with a business consultancy and a subsequent visit to an advertising agency would have been pre-programmed. However, GHV decided instead on a different, unusual approach: collaboration with a presentation company.

Change begins from within, starting with the employees of the insurance company itself, so the idea goes. The starting signal for the strategic realignment should therefore be an internal strategy presentation. The task of this presentation: to make the new brand identity tangible, to engage employees with understandable explanations, and to prepare them for the extensive change process. Only after the internal launch should the presentation be adapted as a company presentation to convey the new image of GHV externally.

A courageous endeavor

But even in the first workshop, it becomes clear why GHV is so confident: The atmosphere is consistently open and constructive. The unity of the working group, the willingness to change, the sovereignty, and the ability to quickly make joint decisions are impressive.

With such team cohesion - we quickly realize - any large-scale change can be tackled.

And something else becomes apparent: The element that will bind GHV and HAVA together in the future and carry them through the change together: the common brand core. "Why do you do what you do? Why do you work the way you do?" is a question in the workshop.

This sentence is not a cliché for them; you can see it in them. The rest of the group smiles in agreement. It has been over 100 years since the two insurers evolved from unions. But this origin is still alive in them. The employees still come from agriculture and horticulture today. They are part of the community. They know their clients. And the people, as well as their insurance issues, are close to their hearts. You can feel it.

Stories are shared. Insurance cases - for GHV, they are not just numbers in a file, but personal fates. "You have to understand how important empathy is for our work," says a GHV employee. "How much is at stake for people. And how much tact we need for our work." Because whoever insures a business ultimately insures livelihoods. And the affected are rarely strangers - in agriculture, people know each other. How it feels when something unexpected happens in such a scenario is something the GHV employees can understand from their own experience.

Understanding - both human and professional - is the heart of the new brand identity.

The joint brainstorming is valuable. The power of the future brand is already so tangible that the threads almost come together effortlessly.

Together, we stamp a holistic concept from the ground within a few months: imagery, messages, presentation content, and even a new image film. But above all, a new positioning: GHV - the insurance manufactory.

This word creation seems unusual. And indeed, behind the term lies a unique market orientation. According to the Duden definition, it is primarily three characteristics that define a manufactory: It is small, it is highly specialized, and it manufactures its products by hand. All things that reflect GHV's work.

Hands play a key role in the new brand communication. They stand for commitment and contact - with animals and nature, with people, but also with their own values. They symbolize the language of the "green industry," which GHV understands so well: Instead of many words, they let actions speak. They are hands-on, approachable, and human.

Since autumn 2018, the new GHV's corporate communication is in place. The decision to run strategic considerations and the development of internal communication in parallel has paid off for GHV. The presentation was launched internally, and the new image of the brand is already being communicated externally. Our work as a presentation agency is thus successfully completed. We look back on an exciting project course full of synergies. On the DKM audience award that GHV won with the presentation at the end of 2018, and even the German Brand Award 2019 for the best brand strategy in the insurance category.

For GHV, however, this is just the beginning. The starting signal for a comprehensive change process. The power of the new brand experience is already palpable today, and the first products are already on the market. Now it's a matter of mastering the upcoming innovations step by step. The shared brand identity binds the two insurers together on this journey and will be an important basis for further success in the coming months and years.