The Covid regulations allow to break away from the rigid protocol of an AGM and to take new, more successful paths in the dialogue with shareholders.

Swiss Re decided to take advantage of the pandemic situation’s opportunities and break out of the corset of the traditional AGM. So they decided to hold the actual AGM in a very small circle and answer shareholders’ questions in detail afterward. The live broadcast from the auditorium of Swiss Re lasted about two hours. It included, in addition to the announcement of the voting results of the AGM by the Corporate Secretary, of two content blocks. One was the farewell and staff handover of the long-serving Chairman of the Board of Directors. The other consisted of a long talk with leading representatives of the company, the old and new Chairman of the Board of Directors, and the CEO, COO, and CFO.

For this broadcast, we developed a digital identity that was both highly reduced and animated. We designed a stage that worked with design classics and a palette of solid color tones and shaped a captivating dramaturgy.

The project not only received high audience rates. The new format also demonstrated that this kind of investor dialogue with the general public can be entertaining and insightful. Shareholders experience both the topics conveyed and the company’s protagonists in a much more dynamic, authentic, and credible way. However, this requires a radical rethinking, from the spatial staging to the dramaturgy. One must stop thinking in terms of “events” but instead think of “television” as well as “Internet” to be successful and achieve appealing user values.

We developed the broadcast in close cooperation with the AGM, IR, and communications team of Swiss Re. Swiss Re’s media team produced the digital content. For the on-site implementation, the proven team of external experts of the AGM project and Swiss Re’s technical team were relied upon.