Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

generation and brand awareness tool for Sun Life Financial, adding real value to Canadians’ everyday
lives through the power of relevant, credible, useful content.
Intended Audiences
To segment audiences, Sun Life Financial relied on its own extensive research into consumer behaviour
and interests, including the Canadian Unretirement Index, the Canadian Health Index, as well leading
research on the consumer decision journey, most notably by Forrester and McKinseyv.
BrighterLife.ca is intended primarily for consumers who are at the beginning of their buying journey,
when they are unaware that there may be a financial product that solves a problem. Typically, they will
have been exposed to a trigger that starts their journey, such as an upcoming lifecycle change, like
starting a family, changing careers or thinking about retirement. With this in mind, the demographic
range of the audience spans from young professionals, to young families through to mature families and
pre‐retirees.
Consumers characteristically begin their decision process with a perception of brands based on what
they have recently read, heard, seen or encountered. Then they deliberately initiate information
gathering to validate their assumptions or identify further alternatives. According to Forrester, the
information gathering process often involves considering recommendations from friends, reading peer
reviews, consuming user‐generated content and looking at competing alternatives.
This means they are not only listening to the voice of brands, but also expecting relevant communities
and peers to offer them information through avenues like social media. Since community is an integral
resource in the active evaluation phase, BrighterLife.ca delivers more than just informative content. It
also provides an opportunity to connect, share and engage in dialogue with like‐minded individuals who
are in similar lifecycle phases and decision‐making journeys.
Goals and Objectives
Sun Life’s primary focus is on lead generation and building affinity for the Sun Life Financial brand
amongst a broader audience, so that more consumers favour Sun Life in their consideration set when
they are evaluating alternatives for their financial and insurance purchases.
The key objectives aligning with these goals are:
1. Drive leads to SunLife.ca, and generate sales referrals for Sun Life advisors;
2. Grow the pool of potential customers by creating and distributing content that appeals to previously
untapped consumers in the active evaluation phase;
3. Deepen engagement with potential customers by going beyond broadcasting sales messages to
engage in meaningful conversations that help inform their decisions and ultimately build a positive
connection to the brand.
Solution Overview
To reach these goals and objectives, Sun Life needed to connect with consumers by providing magnetic
content that would be seen as credible, unbiased and free of heavy‐handed marketing tactics – all
within a forum for open dialogue that shares ideas and opinions on money, health and family matters.