A newly Snoopy-free MetLife has added Sid Lee New York to its agency roster, tasking the agency with supporting a new global brand platform.
“Our mandate is to help MetLife tell human stories about their products around the world,” Sid Lee New York managing partner Lukas Derksen explained in a statement. “Cue a global photoshoot, international casting, in-depth consumer segments, and a new look and a feel that’s more modern and professional.”
Argonaut remains MetLife’s agency of record, an assignment the agency picked up from CP+B in September of 2015.
It has been a year of changes for MetLife, which dropped Snoopy and company after over 30 years. The company signed Argonaut as its new lead agency in late 2015, and after appointing creative directors Shane Fleming and Anders Gustafsson to head the account, the shop launched a rebranding campaign earlier this month. Then the client opted to bring Sid Lee New York on to assist in branding and design efforts alongside Prophet, which handled the logo redesign in October.
“By building on their new visual identity, we are dimensionalizing clearly human stories in 8 key markets through lifestyle photography and intimate portraiture,” Derksen added. “And we’ve taken their illustration toolkit in house, developing icons and elements that will live on everything from a humble tote bag to an MRI scanner in Japan and beyond.”
According to Kantar Media, MetLife spent approximately $70 million on domestic paid media in 2015 and $27.2 million during the first half of this year. Sid Lee New York’s share of the business is not quite clear, but its first work for the brand is expected in early 2017.