Brand New Beginning - The strength of the Scottish Widows brand is based on the then-radical marketing decision taken in 1986 to create a living logo, the Scottish Widow. For over 180 years, Scottish Widows, had survived wars and recessions to become a successful, Scottish-based life office. However, management ambitions looked well beyond these horizons and recognised that as the financial industry was changing, so too would Scottish Widows have to fundamentally change to keep pace.
As a result, every aspect of Scottish Widow business was scrutinised, right down to the actual name of the company, and how the brand and its associated values were maintained and promoted. The result was the 'Looking Good' advert of 1986, which broke new ground in financial services advertising. Standing out from the rest. Before the Widow was launched, the company recognised that clear and strong branding was critical in order to overcome the lack of differentiation between products and even the companies themselves. There were over 30 competing companies, six of which had the word 'Scottish' in their name.
The high priority of building 'brand awareness' within a limited budget required a creative execution that would seem bigger than it actually was. The idea needed to differentiate and build positive attitudes towards the brand whilst proposing that Scottish Widows is "good with your money" in every aspect from investment strategy to performance.
A decision was made in 1986, which was at the time probably the boldest marketing strategy the financial market had ever seen. The Scottish Widow was created as an icon that countered all the negative values associated with the word 'widow' by presenting them as positives - strength, reliability, integrity, innovation, heritage.
This article was taken from Scottish Widows Website 1/6/2004
To contact Scottish Widows - Telephone - 08457 166777
