Bulgaria is a small country, but more than 7% of the world financial cyber-attacks in 2019 had a Bulgarian hacker involved. The country has been the first or second-worst in cyber insecurity in the EU for many years. Wireless credit cards, which are getting more and more popular, are particularly vulnerable. Hackers have no problem scanning your credit card in public, even if it is in your wallet or purse. They just need to get close enough to you with a scanning device.

Groupama Insurance had financial insurance as an important part of its portfolio. Being a small player on the Bulgarian market, Groupama had limited marketing resources to fight competition the conventional way. They were looking for a clever solution to stand out.

Groupama reinvented the business card. Although Groupama’s business card looks just like an ordinary one, there is a hidden metallic layer within. It stops all scanning waves and no hacker can access the data on your credit card. All you have to do is to place it right next to your credit card in your wallet. The simple science of Groupama’s business card completely neutralises all state-of-the-art hacker’s tools. Now,this is a business card you will want to keep in your wallet. This gives a whole new meaning to handing a business card. Now every Groupama sales pitch starts with “This business card can really save you.”

Groupama Insurance is lagging behind market leaders in Bulgaria in terms of brand awareness. We could not rely on customers to recall our name when they need an insurance. With our limited marketing budget we couldn’t be constantly on air to compensate this discrepancy. Groupama embraced a different approach. With the innovative business card as a Trojan horse, we were allowed into the private space of people. Our business card was in their wallets, next to their money, credit card and kids’ photo.

The Sales department, as well as all other personnel of Groupama, were encouraged to distribute as many business cards as possible. All business cards should be delivered with the explanation that the protection offered by Groupama starts the moment you get their business card. 50,000 business cards were printed and distributed between April and December 2019. The cost of production is 7000 EUR.

Armed with the business cards, Groupama personnel had a powerful pickup line to start a meaningful conversation about insurance. With the business card in people’s wallets, at the end of 2019,Groupama successfully increased the follow-up meeting response with 56%, leading to a 17% increase in financial insurance, 15% in cross-sales and 3% in all insurance products. All of this with the help of a modest investment in business card production.