Coronation is selling trust by showing how often it gets broken. The South African fund manager's new brand campaign, made with Ogilvy South Africa, revisits "Trust is earned", a line it adopted almost 20 years ago, Bizcommunity reported on 23 October.
Instead of charts and returns, the work leans on everyday disappointments: a burger that looks nothing like the one on the delivery box, a GPS that leads somewhere remote, and a blind date who looks different from their profile photo. A print execution reads: "I don't have a favourite child." Then: "We work hard to earn yours."
Who it is for
Coronation says the campaign speaks to existing clients and to new investors, including the growing number of South Africans building wealth and investing for the first time. Pieter Koekemoer, head of personal investments, said the message still feels relevant two decades on.
Chief executive Anton Pillay said trust has been the premise of the business for three decades; Coronation has been operating for 33 years. Group head of marketing Wisahl Ganief said trust has to be earned continually through how the firm manages clients' money across market cycles.
Why the old line still works
Most financial advertising promises growth. Coronation's bet is that, in a feed full of scams and doctored images, admitting how hard trust is to give away is more persuasive than another promise. Keeping a line for 20 years also builds the kind of recognition that new fintech brands spend heavily to buy.
- Agency: Ogilvy South Africa, with Number 10 Creative Agency as creative advisor
- Production: Carbon Films, directed by Bruno Bossi
- Strategy partner: Juno
Coronation also appears among the would-be buyers in OPay's New York listing this week: its Coronation Africa Frontiers Fund has indicated interest in up to $50m of the Nigerian fintech's shares.
