Telling a data story 150 years in the making

As consumers, we expect a certain level of transparency around how our data is being used. It’s a contract that relies on trust. Building on a legacy of trust that spans 150 years, Zurich asked us to help define their data commitment and bring it to life. But data policy isn’t a subject people get easily excited about – so how do you tell a data story that keeps your audience hooked?

Let’s talk about data

Zurich Insurance is a business that believes confidence in a digital world depends on tight cyber security and strong data stewardship. They wanted to talk to staff and customers about their promise to never sell or share data without being transparent. Our challenge was to decide on the best way to tell that story.

We started with questions, as we always do. Once we had sifted through many documents and hours of recorded interviews with key people in the business, we had enough content. What we needed next were the narrative hook and the examples that would bring it all to life. We saw an opportunity to take the complex issues of data privacy and security and turn them into something an audience could engage with and even care about.

Inspired by Zürich’s canton flag, we designed an animation in two halves, with a personification of Zurich in the blue half, and a character representing the customer in the white. Jump cuts between transitions help convey the immediacy of data passing between the two parties. Text overlays outlining Zurich’s data commitment are accompanied by animations illustrating a series of Zurich’s innovative services. The role of the film is to communicate this commitment with clarity and honesty. No jargon or pretence. Featuring charming character design, a light-hearted animation style and a conversational tone, the resulting film focussed on Zurich’s transparency around personal data, as well as their ambition to use that same data to drive innovative services.