Prior to its November 2008 launch, Sun Life’s corporate online presence was dated, did not tell a compelling story and did not reflect its market position as a strong, international financial services company. It also lacked the social media tools crucial to the way the next generation of customers do business.

High Road communications was mandated to dramatically improve the Sun Life web experience and strengthen its online presence. High Road developed a multi-part strategy for the site’s overhaul, including an extensive competitive review and audit to identify best practices in the financial services industry and broad stakeholder consultations with the Customer Solutions Department, External Communications, Human Resources and the company’s senior marketing executives in North America, Asia and Europe.

The resulting strategic plan was built around five objectives: 1) Establish Sun Life Financial as a strong international company, 2) Make it easy to do business with Sun Life online, 3) Market Sun Life Financial, 4) Build its brand and reputation and 5) Enable a seamless, one-company experience.

In November 2008, Sun Life launched a new www.sunlife.com global website, a pivotal first step in revolutionizing Sun Life’s online presence. Its modern design, innovative functionality and robust content has put Sun Life at the forefront as an industry leader in online communications.

As a pilot project, High Road developed an internal micro-site focused on the topic of Sustainability – a core corporate commitment by Sun Life to its shareholders, customers and employees.  The micro-site let employees share ideas around sustainability initiatives, large and small, that could be implemented within their home or office environment. Employees were then able to rate and comment on suggestions.

As part of the pilot, High Road developed Sun Life’s policies on participation and engagement using social media tools.  These policies enabled Sun Life to proceed with open and un-moderated posting of content.  Within the first three days of launch, Sun Life received more than 900 posts, 4,500 votes and 1,200 comments.

Building on the success of the pilot project, High Road then moved to transform the corporate communications platform within The Source, Sun Life’s corporate intranet.  All news stories and articles are now published directly on the intranet and grouped by geography and topic.  Employees can rate, comment and tag these articles and regular columns have been introduced, such as “Leaders Talk”, to encourage dialogue with management and to help communicate across the organization.