SME EnterPRIZE: competition to promote sustainable entrepreneurship

B2B communication for Generali Česká pojišťovna

Silver
Czech PR Award Lemur

The future does not belong only to the big ones. Under this slogan, Generali Česká pojišt'ovna launched the SME EnterPRIZE competition, which honoured sustainable small and medium-sized businesses in its portfolio. Data from a number of research studies showed a clear link between sustainable business and the financial performance of companies and their resilience in crises.

The competition, under the auspices of one of the Czech Republic's largest environmental foundations, created a membership bonus for the insurance company's insurance tribe and drew media attention to the benefits of sustainable business for SMEs. The competition created a brand that we are further developing.onus from membership of the insurance company's insurance tribe and drew media attention to the benefits of sustainable business for SMEs. From the competition, it has created a brand that we are further developing.

Jan Čambora

Account manager

Běla Jašková

Senior Consultant

CONTEXT AND CHALLENGE

We were to use the existing SME EnterPRIZE competition brand, which was created years ago in Italy and was to be expanded to other countries in 2021. For the competition, we needed to come up with a completely new concept with which the insurance company would reach out to the SMEs in its portfolio in the first year, using this contact to strengthen existing business relationships.
We had three objectives:

To strengthen the relationship between insurance advisors and the SME clients in their portfolio.
To recognise and raise the profile of high quality sustainable projects that will inspire other companies
To create a workable mechanism and brand of competition in sustainable business, which will then be open to all SMEs without limitation to the Generali Česká client tribe

SOLUTION

Together with Veronica, the largest Moravian foundation focused on nature conservation, we have prepared a detailed concept of the competition including all evaluation mechanisms. As a jury within the competition we addressed capacities from practice and academia.

We used Deník, CzechCrunch and cooperated with professional media.
How to keep the sustainable business theme and the brand of the competition in the public space after the competition is over? For the "deaf period" we planned a series of web workshops with experts, which we organised under the competition brand.

OUTPUTS AND RESULTS

Over 30 companies from the client's portfolio participated in the competition. Media outputs reached over 4 million readers. Expert workshops were viewed by hundreds of members of the corporate community.

Through the competition, insurance advisors deepened relationships with hundreds of relevant portfolio companies, increasing new business potential while profiling GCP as a company that supports new business trends.
Based on the success of the competition, the decision was made to continue it. The very next one was opened to all small and medium-sized Czech companies that do business sustainably. The number of applications almost tripled.

4

million reach

30

participating companies

TOOLS USED

The selected companies were approached by their insurance policy administrators with an offer to participate in the competition. This was an excellent opportunity to introduce this client ""bonus"" to firms and at the same time support existing client relationships.
We informed the wider public about the competition through media partnerships. It also allowed us to bring the topic of sustainable SME entrepreneurship into the public arena and highlight its economic benefits to the health of companies.

The series of workshops we organised and offered to all entrants after the competition was over also helped us in spreading this message. Independent experts spoke at these workshops and advised the corporate community on, for example, the possibility of receiving grants for sustainable projects or PR presentations on sustainable business.