OREANDA-NEWS. On October 17, 2007 a press conference "Allianz’s Umbrella Brand in Russia and CIS: a Look into the Future" was held in Moscow. The event featured the rejuvenated brands of Allianz’s subsidiaries in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. The participants have discussed the strategy of launch and further promotion of the rejuvenated brands, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

The brand management strategy adopted by Allianz Group in 2004 aims to create proper conditions for all of the Group’s companies to conduct gradual unification under Allianz’s brand. Each company, at its respective development stage, should decide on the form of brand use, subject to the market situation, assessment of the local brand’s positions, forecasted changes in consumer sentiment, and other factors. Allianz’s uniform corporate style used throughout the world is based on the unity in diversity.

Allianz’s subsidiaries in Russia and CIS will implement Allianz’s umbrella brand management strategy. The majority of Allianz’s subsidiaries and affiliates will continue operating under their present names. Their affiliation with Allianz will be emphasized by their common design features. All companies will use the same corporate style and the same design elements for advertising and information materials, and will follow the same design elements’location principles. The new brand management strategy also regulates such issues as fonts and other peculiarities of the materials used for visual presentation.

Furthermore, all companies whose name does not include Allianz brand will be bound to use an additional identification wording "Allianz member", to be placed in the bottom left corner of advertising modules.

Prior to these changes, SAK Allianz has been the only company operating under the name of Allianz. Its name, logotype and corporate design will not be subject to any modifications. And the only company to change its trade name completely will be ROSNO Ukraine. Effective from October 01’ 2007, the company’s previous name was replaced with "Allianz Ukraine".

The abovementioned "Unity in Diversity" principle is also reflected in the Group’s intracorporate culture elements. Now, the employees of subsidiaries based in Russia and CIS have been actively engaged in Allianz’s international projects focused on peer-to-peer exchange of expertise. Presently, for example, the company is implementing the Moments of Truth program, whereby employees shown in video trailers broadcasted in Allianz offices around the world tell colleagues of their unique experience in client relations.

"Along with the task of determining the names to be used by our subsidiaries, we have had to let our clients and business partners know that all these companies belong to Allianz Group. ROSNO brand has a strong position in the Russian insurance market; for our clients it embodies reliability and trust. Our business in Ukraine and Kazakhstan is relatively adolescent. In our opinion, today is the ideal time for the companies based in these countries to perform a complete rebranding. The principal purpose of these changes is to attract the clients’ attention to the strengths, advantages and reliability of the companies belonging to Allianz. Insurance is a business built on trust. We would like our clients in Russia and CIS to know that, throughout its 120-year period of operation in the financial services sector, Allianz has been always unfailingly fulfilling its promises. Over 60 million clients in over 70 countries already know this", noted Mr. Hannes Shariputra Chopra, General Manager of Allianz in CIS countries (Allianz Eurasia) and General Manager of IC ROSNO.

"For us, restyling means not just replacement of the corporate style. Visible changes reflect our present strategy, which is focused on maintaining international service quality standards. This is what the Group’s competitive advantage in the Russian market is based upon. The values proclaimed by Allianz, such as orientation towards the clients’ needs and pursuit of innovative solutions, form a basis for a stable and profitable business growth. We are certain that these changes will facilitate establishing long-term relationships with our clients, based on the knowledge and understanding of the insurants’ needs", commented on the event Mr. Michail Safran, ROSNO’s Member of the Board in charge for ROSNO Group’s marketing activities.