Being chosen takes more than a good product.
TAL Financial Adviser Brand Platform - Building Better Together
Financial advisers have no shortage of insurers to choose from. The challenge wasn’t convincing them TAL had good products. It was giving them a stronger reason to choose TAL in the first place.
The opportunity was to move the relationship beyond product and price — from insurer to partner — and build a brand advisers could believe was genuinely invested in their success.
So we focused on what advisers themselves were trying to achieve: stronger businesses, stronger client relationships and better outcomes. That led to Building Better Together — a brand platform built around the idea that TAL’s success and adviser success were connected.
Working across strategy, concept development, creative direction and stakeholder engagement, I helped turn that proposition into an ownable creative platform — bringing multiple perspectives together around one clear idea without losing what made it powerful.
From selling products to building something better together.
-
Good products were expected. We needed to create preference.
In a category where insurers could make similar claims around products, service and performance, simply telling advisers what TAL offered wasn’t enough to create meaningful differentiation.
The bigger question was: what could TAL mean to advisers beyond the product itself?
Working closely with strategy, we moved the conversation from what TAL sold to the role TAL could play in an adviser’s world — supporting their business, their client relationships and the outcomes they were working towards.
That gave us the emotional territory for Building Better Together: a platform that positioned TAL not simply as an insurer, but as a partner invested in helping advisers succeed.
The product opened the door. Partnership gave advisers a reason to choose TAL.
-
Finding the idea was only part of the challenge. We also had to bring people with us.
Developing the platform meant navigating different perspectives across strategy, marketing, account leadership and senior stakeholders. We explored hundreds of lines, propositions, manifestos, photography approaches and visual territories as the idea evolved.
My role wasn’t simply to respond to feedback. It was to understand what was sitting underneath it and keep bringing the conversation back to the strategic intent.
What did we ultimately want advisers to believe about TAL?
That became the lens for evaluating the work — helping us separate subjective preference from feedback that genuinely strengthened the idea.
The execution evolved through collaboration, but the central thought remained intact.
Alignment wasn’t about diluting the idea. It was about making the idea stronger together.
-
The idea needed to do more than work for one campaign. It needed to give TAL something to build from.
Building Better Together created a clear organising thought that could connect TAL’s adviser communications across different messages, channels and moments.
I helped develop the strategic and creative narrative around the platform — connecting the adviser insight, proposition, language, visual expression and art direction so every element felt like part of the same idea.
Just as importantly, the thinking needed to be clear enough for our clients to take into their own organisation, champion with senior stakeholders and ultimately carry forward without us in the room.
The result was more than a campaign line. It was a brand platform TAL could continue to build on.
One idea. A stronger relationship. A platform built to last.
My Role
Senior Art Director
Brand platform development
Concept development
Creative direction & art direction
Strategic collaboration
Stakeholder engagement
Creative presentations & sell-in
Messaging & narrative development
Visual territory development
Campaign development & rollout
One idea. Many stories.
Building Better Together was designed to flex across multiple adviser needs without losing its core message. From claims and retention to education and pricing, each execution reinforced TAL's commitment to helping advisers create better outcomes for their clients and their businesses.
Designed for the real world
Beyond campaign communications, the platform extended across website content, digital advertising and CRM, creating a connected experience across every adviser touchpoint.
-
Creative concept, art direction, campaign platform development and digital rollout, including launch EDM design, digital banners and supporting campaign assets.
-
Agency: BMF
Client: TAL Life Insurance
Copywriter: Alister McCann