Designer
Paul Bailes
Client
Chartered Insurance Institute
Date
December 2017
Deliverables
Offline
Brief
The insurance and financial services profession is perceived as a male dominated industry with few females reaching senior positions. Additionally, the profession struggles to attract top talent and is rarely considered as the first-choice profession for those leaving education and seeking their first full time job. The client wanted to look to change this perception and wanted something to help them dispel this myth.
Design
Having understood what the challenge for the insurance profession is, we decided that the end result should look and feel more like a lifestyle magazine that would appeal to the younger generation rather than a directory or almanac.
We worked with the client and the project joint sponsor, the Insurance Supper Club (ISC) which is a Community Interest Company that promotes networking opportunities for women in senior leadership positions to debate, network and inspire current and future leaders. We presented layouts and suggestions for the content which we felt should be more personal rather than business focussed.
Our design reflected the lifestyle magazine approach since each contributor was given a double page spread with a single large personal, non-business image with a smaller formal business focussed shot. Their biographical content focused as much on their personal background as well as their business successes to show the more human side of the industry which we felt much more likely to resonate with younger female audience. It also served to highlight the varied backgrounds of the featured women who were all successful in their own fields.
Create
From the copy provided, we carefully chose quotes that we could use on the page to generate and retain the reader’s interest – some were work focussed, related to the contributor’s journey to their success, others were more personal.
Having opted for a format which is more akin to a glossy lifestyle magazine, the use of strong typography together with the style of the imagery, added energy and character to the pages which, whilst very individual to the contributor, had a consistent style to the brochure.
Outcome
The brochure has been very successful in promoting the insurance profession to young females being very positively received. It has also provided the stakeholders with material to begin the process of changing the perception of the insurance profession as a place of limited opportunities. It has also been used by the Insurance Supper Club as a tool to engage potential future leaders.