The best-known and most trusted insurance brand

UNIQA is the best-known and most trusted insurance brand and, as “the insurance of a new generation”, stands for innovation, product quality and first-class service in a rapidly changing world. Entrepreneurial success in such a quickly evolving global environment requires a feel for trends as well as constant readiness to respond proactively to people’s needs. Those who face the challenges of the future with resolve are one step ahead, as a pioneer on new terrain In the seven years since forming our internationally oriented insurance group and establishing the successful UNIQA brand, which is, meanwhile, operating in sixteen European countries, we have succeeded in recognising our customers’ desires and the changes in society sooner than others. And we have found the right answers to questions about insurance and old-age provision that are arising from demographic and technological changes.

Successful strategy of consistent customer orientation

With a business strategy that focuses specifically on the needs of mobile customers in the age of globalisation, UNIQA has achieved a leading market position in Austria. And we have positioned ourselves as a competent partner in our Central and Eastern European target markets, filling the need for private insurance and old-age provision, which is increasing everywhere.

Our success in developing new markets can be attributed to many factors: The ability to replace separate product offers with comprehensive insurance solutions that include sensible additional benefits and excellent service quality. In doing so, we are honing our image as a leading innovator and trendsetter.

The insurance of a new generation

The insurance of a new generation UNIQA is an insurance company which not only understands the changing way of life of a new generation, but which consistently orients its strategy on this. This behaviour is reflected in our claim of being “the insurance of a new generation” and consistently implemented in the campaign. In addition to the television ads, the print campaign began with four topics on posters and billboards in Austria and nearly

simultaneously also in four Eastern European countries.

UNIQA’s success can be attributed not least to the clear orientation of our business strategy on the changing way of life in the age of globalisation. We approach our customers flexibly, openminded and receptive about each of life’s phases.

In this new age, we are conveying the overall concept of our company as the insurance of a new generation with an international image campaign, directed at the broader public in Austria and our Central and Eastern European markets.

Lead in brand awareness increased

UNIQA can build upon its extremely positive brand image. Our high profile is unequalled according to the most recent questionnaire by the market research institute FESSEL-GfK. When they think of insurance, 18% of all Austrians think first about UNIQA. Thus, we have improved our lead compared to the previous year.

UNIQA moved up to 46% with respect to spontaneous awareness and 90% awareness with prompting. We also received the best scores for customer contacts in 2006. Once again, we clearly achieved the highest share of customers (32%), primary customers (18%), and exclusive customers in the Austrian insurance market.

Most trusted brand in Austria

And what’s more, according to the consumer study “Reader’s Digest European Most Trusted Brands”, UNIQA is the most trusted insurance brand in Austria for the fourth year in a row. Furthermore, we regularly rank at the top of the market institute’s industry brand monitoring, with respect to estimation of service quality, brand value or innovation.

Finally, in 2006, we were amongst the best insurance companies rated by 400 independent insurance brokers for the “Assurance Award Austria”, awarded by the market research institute psychonomics AG.

Top grade for Raiffeisen Versicherung’s service

Raiffeisen Versicherung, the Group’s subsidiary that is leading in bank sales, also reaped high praise from its customers. In a survey of the level of satisfaction with the central service centre, nearly three-fourths of those questioned awarded the top grade of “very satisfied” as an overall assessment.

They consider product quality and the bank advisor in his advisory function as the most important reason for the overall high satisfaction. Raiffeisen Versicherung is also clearly ahead of other bank insurers and above the industry average in advisory services after the conclusion of a contract.

Strengthen and develop the competitive advantage

In this age of pressing economic change, however, we cannot let ourselves be satisfied with the successes to date which have made UNIQA the leading insurance company in Austria, with 5.5 million Group customers and a premium volume of more than € 5 billion. We must use our strategic role as pioneer and technology leader in the insurance landscape, our first-class brand image, high innovativeness and enormous customer potential to strengthen the market position in Austria and to develop emerging markets in Eastern Europe.

For this purpose, our product designers are continuously developing new insurance solutions tailored to customers’ needs, optimising our best sellers and reinforcing our competitive advantage through modern innovations. And UNIQA occupies new business segments early, which will increase in significance in the future.

Business health management as a future topic

Thus, UNIQA – by far Austria’s leading health insurer – recognised “business health management” as one of tomorrow’s growth sectors. Because healthier employees are verifiably more productive, expenditures to promote their health are also sound business investments. We are leading the way in this sector by setting a good example in our own company. The campaign “UNIQA@ work” changed the personal behaviour and self-confidence of the employees with numerous events within the Group.

With the results of this campaign, we will succeed in the future in making our commercial and industrial customers more aware of the topic “health in business” and in providing them with attractive offers. These offers range from simple introductory models to mobile medical examinations, to the vital statistics of a company as a whole.

Pilot project against high blood pressure has begun

With “disease management / hypertension”, UNIQA has started another innovative health insurance pilot project within the framework of our comprehensive efforts to promote all types of preventative measures, and therefore to avoid illness. Around 100 UNIQA customers between the ages of 60 and 70 who, like every fourth Austrian, suffer from hypertension were equipped with a blood pressure gauge and a so-called home box for the duration of the project. This transmitted the data which was measured daily per telephone to LifeSensor – a software programme developed by us.

The medical team in our call centre checks this data and advises customers with elevated numbers about possible ways to lower their blood pressure. The project is intended to support the therapy of the doctor treating the patient by providing ongoing consultation outside of normal consulting hours. The goal is to adjust blood pressure to an optimum, to avoid or minimise subsequent diseases, and to reduce the costs to the health care system in the long term.

Digital risk maps for natural catastrophes

A unique project in Europe for injury and damage prevention has been available since the middle of 2006 throughout Austria: The risk zone system for natural catastrophes, “HORA”, developed in cooperation with the Insurance Association of Austria and the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management. It conveys a picture of the regional risks of flood or earthquake.

At www.hochwasserrisiko.at, every Austrian can learn about the risk of flood or earthquake to which his or her own house or property in the respective region is exposed on a digital risk map and, if necessary, take preventative measures.

The UNIQA and Raiffeisen Versicherung customers affected by flood or storm damage in Austria in 2006 and early 2007, were helped quickly and unbureaucratically. A free hotline was promptly available to them for emergencies and to report damages suffered.

QualityPartnership

The QualityPartnership is one of our well-established customer loyalty instruments: We reward the loyalty of our customers to our company with PartnerPoints. We also grant an additional bonus if they complete a calendar year without any claims in the defined insurance areas.

QualityPartnership made even more attractive

A personal UNIQA VitalCoach helps our customers learn how they can best maintain their health and well-being or improve it, e.g. through an individually tailored sports programme. Since its introduction in 2003 as an instrument to gain profitable total and new customers, our insurance offer of the QualityPartnership, which is unique in Austria, has continually increased in significance.

This innovative product and service programme to foster and intensify customer relationships was further developed in 2006, and made even more attractive. It documents our consulting philosophy and shows how we are consistently changing from the product-focused to the solution-focused insurance of a new generation.

Currently, more than 300,000 customers who own at least two contracts in different insurance areas have a QualityPartnership. They profit from an exclusive insurance and service package in connection with targeted health prevention.

Active consultation and goodies included

Tried-and-tested building blocks of the QualityPartnership include the guaranteed ActiveCare through a personal Exclusive Advisor, who regularly adjusts the insurance protection to fit new life situations, and also the possibility to receive a bonus of up to € 200.

Furthermore, we reward loyal customers of the QualityPartnership with PartnerPoints and attractive goodies, such as sport and thermal spring gift certificates or a cheque for a short hotel vacation. All contract data of the QualityPartnership, including the balance of PartnerPoints, is available on demand for all customers at any time at the Internet portal myUNIQA.

Use of the PartnerConto expanded

The PartnerConto is the “financial hub” of the QualityPartnership. The advantage for the customers: premium payments for all insurance contracts are summarised in a single line, all credits are accounted for and handled in one monthly charge.

Our 3,000 brokers in Austria can also take advantage of the TopConto in sales. And we are working as fast as we can to further intensify our connections to total and multiple-contract customers, with the help of the CustomerConto in the distribution channels. At the same time, we would like to greatly simplify communication with the advantages of the QualityPartnership. Additionally, this will be expanded to include a business partnership in the corporate customer segment in 2007.

Interview with Peter Simonischek

		Next Generation Kamilla Baar, 27 Actress She received excellent critiques for her role as Ophelia, and now the up-and-coming Polish actress can be seen on the screen in star director Juliusz Machulski’s new film, Vinci. The path to the top is very difficult these days. What characteristics do you need to be successful? You have to trust your luck, concentrate on your goals and remain true to your passion. You have worked together with famous producers and actors. What impresses you most? That’s true. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work together with several excellent Polish actors. I was extremely impressed. On the one hand, they are the best in the class. At the same time, they work hard and humbly, and with extreme concentration on every challenge, no matter how small it is. Concerning your work: what inspires you? People. Every single person I meet can be an adventure.
Peter Simonischek was born on 6 August 1946 in Graz, studied at the Graz Academy of Music and Performing Arts, performed at the Graz Schauspielhaus Theatre and later in St. Gallen, Bern and Düsseldorf. Following that, an engagement at the Berlin Schaubühne Theatre, where he stayed for 20 years, proved to be the fulfilment of the dream of a lifetime. In 1999, Klaus Bachler brought him to the Burgtheater, where he was also established as a box-office success. Since the summer of 2002, he has also been a hit in the title role of Everyman at the Salzburg Festival.
What does the Salzburg Festival mean to you? For me, the Salzburg Festival represents outstanding artistic performances with world-famous interpreters. The best musicians and actors in the world gather together to create something new. This always brings out new and daring ideas. Working here is wonderful. Personally, I most appreciate the summertime togetherness with so many European talents. That is very inspiring. Fostering this “gem of Austrian culture“ takes a huge amount of money every year; the festival could not possibly be held as it is without suitable sponsoring. How do you feel about the subject of cultural sponsoring? High culture has always been dependent on support. In the past it was the job of the royalty, today this role is filled by successful corporations – a potential win-win situation when a credible and intelligent partnership can be formed. In this regard, Austrian companies can nurture their traditional role as integrators to the benefit of a cultural European convergence.

After your successes in the past two years, amongst other things at the Salzburg Festival, one might think that you have reached a peak. What is it that continues to motivate you?
Acting is unbelievably lively and diverse. It’s as if an expedition begins with the rehearsals for each new role, a departure into unexplored regions of our being – a submersion into the depths of the human soul, searching and recognising correlations and contradictions. It is a joy to discover and learn new things each day, and to go on to celebrate a “Festival of the Moment“ on opening night and take the audience along on a voyage from which they return happy and a little bit different.

Fitness training in the VitalClub

A QualityPartnership or health insurance policy is automatically combined with a membership in Austria’s largest health programme – the UNIQA VitalClub, where 90 VitalCoaches are available to work out individual prevention programmes with customers that focus on maintaining and improving fitness and well-being.

The health project, which is unique in the Austrian insurance business, already has around 1 million members. The VitalClub was also established in Germany and Hungary in 2006, for the first time. In the future, it will also focus on corporate customers.

A fixed component of our commitment to preventative health management is the FitnessProfile on four wheels, the VitalTruck. The blue and white vehicle is meant to enable regular VitalChecks for as many people as possible by bringing the VitalCheck to them.

VitalTruck on tour internationally

The 20-tonne truck, complete with trained medical personnel for the examination of 100 employees daily, can be rented by public and private companies. In 2006, it not only travelled all over Austria, but also in Germany and Hungary.

German air-traffic control employees, who need maximum mental and physical fitness to monitor around 8,000 flights daily, submitted themselves to a check-up in the VitalTruck. The German air-traffic control’s health partner is our Group subsidiary, Mannheimer Versicherung.

More than 100,000 Raiffeisen customers use the Advantage Programme

Raiffeisen Versicherung achieved remarkable success with their core customer programme, “my sure advantage”. The company, which operates in bank sales over the counter of the Austrian Raiffeisen banks, greeted the 100,000th Advantage customer in 2006. The success that “my sure advantage” has enjoyed until now is not only based on incentives such as the premium discount. Above all, Raiffeisen customers also receive competent advisory services for all financial matters at their bank.

Popular figure Benni Raich athlete of the year

UNIQA’s sponsoring strategy is to enter into intermediate and long-term partnerships. Commitment is not limited to purely financial services. As an active partner, UNIQA focuses on the individual and precisely on the necessities and requirements of coordinated sponsoring partnerships.

Positive image transfer through sponsoring

Within the scope of the UNIQA Group strategy for securing profitable total and new customers in the Central and Eastern European insurance markets, the development of a positive brand image plays an important role. With our sports sponsoring, we aim for optimum support of brand recognition and an image transfer in the areas of innovation, dynamics, success and compassion. With the support of high-class art and cultural events, we emphasise our claim to quality and exclusiveness based on UNIQA’s business values.

Thus, in 2006, we extended the successful partnership with the top ski star Benjamin Raich until 2010. The “Blitz from Pitz” won the slalom and giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, and also won the Overall World Cup. He ensured the optimum presence of the UNIQA brand on his blue helmet, which is a symbol for security not only in Austria.

Popular figure Benni Raich athlete of the year

Austria’s sports journalists chose Benni Raich as Austria’s 2006 athlete of the year. Our commitment to the sport of skiing is rounded out by our partnership with the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV). We are the general sponsor, as well as sponsor of many world cup races organised by the ÖSV.

Furthermore, in 2006 we supported the Austrian Cycling Association, the Austrian Tennis Association, the runner-up in Olympic sailing, Andreas Geritzer, as well as sponsoring the top event of the track-and-field all-around competition – the meet in Götzis in Vorarlberg.

Consistent strategy of “faces for UNIQA“

We continued our sports sponsoring in the international markets of Eastern Europe. The subsidiary in the Czech Republic was one of the main sponsors of the world championship in white-water racing held in Prague. The logical consequence was our partnership with the world-class kayaker, Stepanka Hilgertova, our UNIQA athletic face for the Czech Republic. We continued our overall strategy of “faces for UNIQA” in Bulgaria in 2006, with a cooperation with the rally driver, Krum Donchev, in Serbia with the ex-basketball star, Alexander Djordjevic, as well as in Slovakia with the successful skier, Veronika Zuzulova, and in Hungary with the highly popular water polo players, Adam and Barnabas Steinmetz.

Additionally, we are partner of the most popular Czech football association Sparta Prague, and support the games of the Handball Champions League in Hungary.

		As Austria’s largest art insurer, the promotion of excellent cultural events is a part of our corporate culture. We have noticeably expanded cultural sponsoring for a good reason. Above all, our long-term cooperation with the Salzburg Festival has proved itself as a symbiotic union between two partners at the highest level of quality.
Cultural sponsoring: the Salzburg Festival

Cultural sponsoring receives high approval

The approval is high. Half of all culturally interested people in Austria have a positive perception of our commitment to the Salzburg Festival. And 81% of our customers welcome our sponsoring of this world-class cultural event. As a quality insurer, we are providing an important contribution in order to preserve the high quality of Austrian culture.

UNIQA ArtCercle for demanding lovers of art

With our ArtCercle, we offer demanding art lovers amongst our customers regular access to top cultural events beyond the usual programme. In addition to previews with tours conducted by experts, the ArtCercle organises backstage access at exhibitions, enables cultural fans to peruse warehouses and collections, or arranges conversations with renowned experts. In a short time, it has established itself as synonymous with top-quality events of the most demanding scale. The preview of the 200 works of Pablo Picasso, on exhibition at the Albertina, left a particularly special impression in 2006.

Promotion of the Schiele exhibition in the Belvedere

Within the scope of our long-term partnership with the Belvedere Gallery, we supported the Egon Schiele exhibition, insured the masterpieces of early Austrian expressionism shown there, and took advantage of this connection for a UNIQA ArtCercle event.

In the area of music, we sponsor the Vienna Philharmonic and promote the Mörbisch Festival on the Lake. And we shall engage ourselves in the future as sponsor of the music festival at Grafenegg Castle under the direction of Rudolf Buchbinder.

Highlights

• With 90% brand awareness, UNIQA is the best-known insurance group in Austria and has also been the most trusted insurance brand for several years.



• The QualityPartnership was made even more attractive in 2006. Already, more than 300,000 customers benefit from this.



• Our sponsoring strategy focuses on the areas of sport and culture and is being consequentially expanded on the international markets.