Swiss Re unveils new brand strategy and modernised logo as it celebrates 150 year anniversary

Group CEO Michel M. Liès says: "For the last 150 years, it has been Swiss Re's business to enable people to turn pioneering ideas into reality, or get back on track when things go wrong. We have taken our anniversary as the occasion to review our brand positioning and launch a new brand promise: 'We're smarter together' is Swiss Re's public declaration that highlights the partnering spirit of our knowledge company, committed to helping clients succeed. Our mutual success will effectively address the persistent phenomenon of underinsurance in many areas of our planet and close the protection gaps that still face individuals, corporations and also countries."

Swiss Re's reviewed brand strategy was defined after an extensive consultation with internal and external stakeholders. A significant economic and strategic asset, it needs to be protected and continuously enhanced. Swiss Re is strongly associated with attributes such as expertise, global scale, integrity, financial strength and heritage. The Group Executive Committee decided to build on the existing strengths, but also slightly reposition the company going forward, aiming to present it as more emotional, benefits-driven, and collaborative. This aims to allow the firm to stand even further apart in the market place.

Part of the change is modernising Swiss Re's logo to make it a more powerful and distinct symbol in markets worldwide. While the known pillars continue to stand for stability, the new roundel expresses customer centricity and worldliness. The Board of Directors and the Group Executive Committee also endorsed a 'one-brand' strategy for the entire Group with its three Business Units.

Swiss Re also publishes an anniversary book on the firm's and industry's history. Produced in German and English, it traces the evolution of the company from a small start-up in a tiny office in Zurich's old city into an industry giant with more than 11,000 employees in over 60 locations. Richly illustrated with dozens of photographs and reprints, the publication is divided into three parts: it opens with an overview of the insurance sector's development, outlines the journey of the reinsurance industry, and then concludes with the history of Swiss Re itself. The book was co-authored by Peter Borscheid, Professor Emeritus for social and economic history at the University of Marburg (insurance), David Gugerli, Professor of technology history at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (reinsurance) and Tobias Straumann, lecturer at the research centre for social and economic history at the University of Zurich (Swiss Re). It is edited by Harold James, Professor of history at Princeton University, USA, and carries a foreword by Walter Kielholz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Re Group.

"As a reinsurer, Swiss Re had to internationalise its business from early on to diversify its risk portfolio. So most of the big disasters that struck in the past have left some traces in the firm's books: the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, the sinking of the Titanic, the Great Depression, hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, and 9/11. At the same time, the company has always displayed a strong attachment to Switzerland and has benefitted from the strengths and values that go with the Swiss brand", says Tobias Straumann.