Sanlam group says that it was impressed by Machine's content marketing specialisation, communications experience, creativity and powerful digital transformation solutions. The group adds that it is delighted to appoint Machine as its partner from 2020.

Machine will be responsible for re-energising Sanlam's internal communications across multiple business divisions, including:
  • Sanlam Personal Finance
  • Sanlam Sky
  • Sanlam Emerging Markets/Sanlam Pan Africa
  • Glacier by Sanlam
"Machine's specialist content marketing division has been delivering proven ROI for the Sanlam group's loyalty programme — Sanlam Reality — over the last seven years," says Sarah Browning-de Villiers, Machine's chief content officer.

"We are incredibly privileged to extend our partnership with Sanlam across the group's internal communications and are excited to drive meaningful content marketing experiences that will translate into real business results," adds Browning-de Villiers.

"We believe in the power of people, so partnering with Sanlam to nurture the people at the heart of its successes and its future growth is very special," Browning-de Villiers says.

The scope of work will include a range of internal communication publications and platforms, including:
  • custom print magazines 
  • email newsletters
  • internal portals and websites
  • digital magazines
  • social chat channels
A central CMS solution across business departments will also be implemented, and mandate will be to help Sanlam drive efficiencies across its various business units, while retaining editorial and communication excellence to its varied and geographically spread out internal audiences.

"We are excited to partner with Machine as our internal communications agency," says Sydney Mbhele, chief executive: brand at Sanlam. "The refreshing insight, which Machine demonstrated during the pitch process, showcased their high standard of expertise, creativity and innovative solutions. We believe [that this] will indeed enhance our internal communications capabilities. We look forward to a mutually rewarding partnership."

"Winning Sanlam's internal communications business is a testament to the incredible integrated offering of Machine, bringing together our specialisations of content marketing, PR and influencer, tech platforms and solutions, creativity and UX/UI design," says Gareth McPherson, Machine's managing director and chief creative officer.

"The pitch process was both rigorous and exciting and we really enjoyed getting stuck into the challenges posed by the briefs," adds McPherson. "Fundamentally, we understand how to digitally transform a business, while remaining sympathetic and pragmatic to the realities of a legacy, for large corporates such as Sanlam."

"To be partnering with a team with whom we are already enjoying a huge amount of synergy is fantastic. We're already working with Sanlam on some exciting developments for 2020, and we can't wait to share these with Sanlam's staff and stakeholders over the course of next year," concludes McPherson.

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