"Our new brand campaign is a very public and bold return to our roots – a social pact with our customers, both current and future, as well as our employees and shareholders alike," says Llewellyn Allen, divisional chief marketing officer for Metropolitan.

"In a sometimes chaotic world driven by mass production and anonymity, we believe that people want to be seen for their everyday personal pursuits to better life for themselves, and their families," adds Allen.

Allen says, "But as with anything in life, two pairs of hands are always better than one. "It’s the same when it comes to people’s money needs."

"At Metropolitan, we wholeheartedly believe that having an encouraging, friendly expert at your side through life, who is enabling and celebrating the good times with you, but who is also there for you in the challenging times, is the essence of what we do," he adds.


"Our new campaign shows that we are by our clients’ side, walking their life’s journey with them and helping them plan for and achieve the financial goals that really matter to them by providing personalised financial products and advice," Allen says.

"Metropolitan is a brand that has been about the power of the collective for years – this is expressed through the pay off line ‘Together we can’," he adds.

"Our new campaign is inspired by insights regarding how individuals and families have their unique needs; no two families are the same, even within similar cultures," he says.

"As a brand, we believe that when clients communicate what matters to them, our ability to offer solutions that enhance their lives is strengthened," adds Allen.

According to Metropolitan, the campaign came about following a strategic review of the business in November 2017 in which it asked itself whether it had positioned the brand in a way that sets it up for success.

"The honest answer was no," says Allen. "We weren’t reaching our core market with what we were doing, so we had to get real and resonate with them."

"We also weren’t getting noticed, particularly because what we were doing wasn’t distinctive enough. With this new campaign, we want to reintroduce Metropolitan to the market and get our clients optimistic about their future and the role that we play in their financial life goals," he adds.

Metropolitan says the campaign also forms part of a broader strategy by parent company MMI Holdings to increase earnings and set the business up to achieve sustainable, profitable growth within three years.

"A critical part of meeting this objective has been the revitalisation of our client-facing brands. As a group, we have re-energised our purpose of financial wellness to spell out exactly what we do, which is to enable businesses and people from all walks of life to achieve their financial goals and life aspirations," says Nontokozo Madonsela, group CMO at MMI Holdings.

Metropolitan aims to actualise its promise with personalised solutions that take care of clients from birth to death – from providing their children with a quality education and being able to have financial security if they become disabled, to having enough money to live on when they retire and being able to have their final farewell the way they want.

Allen says that, for the first time in almost a decade, Metropolitan has incorporated a product – in this case, the new Funeral Solution – into its marketing.

He adds, "Our decision to change track was due to the fact that how we live our lives and how we’re sent off on our last day on earth is important to all of us. We wanted to acknowledge this universal truth by letting people know that we care about the same things." 

"With a return to who we are as a business, combined with the promise we make to all the lives we touch, we simply had to take a deep breath and confidently say to all of South Africa: 'What matters to you, really matters to us' because 'Together, We Can'," concludes Allen.

For more information, visit www.metropolitan.co.za. You can also follow Metropolitan on Facebook or on Twitter.