Alchemy seeks credit for AIA's new brand positioning

On 12 July, TBWA released information that stated AIA's new brand campaign to communicate its new positioning was "created" by TBWA Hong Kong. The TBWA release made no mention of Alchemy Asia.

Charles Brian-Boys, CEO of Alchemy Asia, told Campaign Asia-Pacific that his agency was deeply involved throughout the development stage of the corporate brand and creative concept.

That included writing of the creative brief, creative direction through a mood video, reviewing TBWA's creative mockups and guiding them through to the final campaign that was approved, he said.

To validate Alchemy's claim, Campaign Asia-Pacific asked for a copy of the creative brief and mood video that was shown to Paul Groves, executive vice president and group chief marketing officer of AIA Group, for further clarification.

The brief was meant to set the "overarching tone and campaign approach for further localisation of ATL deliverables in pan-regional media and key in-market channels".

An AIA spokesperson confirmed Alchemy's scope of work.

Alchemy Asia has been AIA's brand consultant since May 2012, appointed by Groves to help reposition the AIA corporate brand across all markets.

In October 2011, TBWA was appointed by AIA Group as its regional creative agency, not including the Hong Kong market, which was recently added in March 2013.

Brian-Boys stressed that the new positioning was developed from "a significant amount of time and effort in extensive research and strategic planning". The agency spent seven months gathering data from more than 100 focus groups in nine markets.

He added that the new positioning, approved by AIA's exco in November 2012 and presented at an internal leadership conference in December 2012, was essentially cracked by Alchemy, with TBWA doing only the creative executions (TVC, print, OOH, digital and social media activation).

Brian-Boys said, "TBWA have grossly overstepped the mark and been disingenuous in their claims."

A marketing & communications spokeswoman for TBWA Asia Pacific responded with, "We are extremely careful when listing credits and have definitely not missed out anyone".

Brian-Boys pointed out the strategic development for AIA involved "significant market insight and internal alignment" that involved TBWA's team in a "rigorous and challenging process".

As brand guardian, Alchemy said it was in multiple reviews and meetings with TBWA since April 2013, three months before the external campaign launch. Headquartered in Hong Kong together with AIA and TBWA, Alchemy also serves another insurance client, Direct Asia.

AIA's repositioning, summarised in the new tagline “AIA. The Real Life Company”, supercedes past slogans “We are Asia” and “The Power of We” used since 2009, aimed to remend the brand's image after the global financial crisis.