Madelon van Dijck-Scholte - Achmea

At Achmea, brand growth is not just about standing out. For Madelon van Dijck-Scholte, Senior Manager Brand & Communication, it starts with being genuinely relevant in people’s lives. That means connecting brand purpose to customer relevance, building trust through meaningful themes, and making sure that societal impact also supports business growth.

Brand Growth Starts with Relevance

For Madelon, brand growth begins with a simple but demanding question: how do you stay truly relevant to customers? In a market where products can easily feel similar and consumers are overloaded with messages and choices, she believes relevance is the first condition for growth.

At Achmea, that belief is closely tied to the company’s cooperative roots. The organisation has long seen it as its responsibility to contribute to society, and that mindset is reflected in the way its brands are developed. “We find our role for society very important,” Madelon says. “And from the brands we also find it important: how can our brands grow by truly being meaningful for our customers and also for society?”

That ambition comes together in Achmea’s overarching mission, Sustainable Living Together. For Madelon, that is not just a line on paper. “That really is our compass, so not just a nice sentence,” she says. “We really see it as our task, as a large financial services provider, to ensure that the world becomes a bit healthier, safer, greener, more social, for now, later, and further ahead.”

“We really see it as our task, as a large financial services provider, to ensure that the world becomes a bit healthier, safer, greener, more social, for now, later, and further ahead.”

From Social Impact to Stronger Brand Linkage

That broader view has shaped the development of Achmea’s core brands, including Zilveren Kruis, Interpolis, Centraal Beheer and Achmea itself. But in recent years, Madelon and her colleagues have become more precise in how they think about the role of those initiatives in brand growth.

Earlier on, the organisation sometimes leaned too far towards the societal theme itself, she says, and not enough towards the brand behind it. “We did notice that perhaps sometimes we were a bit too much focused on society as a whole and on the theme itself,” she explains, “and that we needed a somewhat stronger connection back to our brand.”

That insight has led to a sharper approach. Rather than broadly engaging with social issues, the brands now make more deliberate choices about the themes through which they want to make impact and build trust and relevance. “We have made very deliberate choices recently to focus: what are the themes through which each brand wants to make an impact?” Madelon says. “For our customers and of course also for society.”

For her, that link matters because customers need to recognise what a brand stands for. “That recognisability, that our customers really have the feeling of: the brand from which I buy my products is also committed to broader societal themes,” she says. “That creates trust.”

“That recognisability, that our customers really feel that the brand from which I buy my products is also committed to broader societal themes, that creates trust,”

Trust and Business Impact

According to Madelon, in financial services, trust is not a nice extra. It is the foundation. At the same time, Achmea has become more explicit about linking those brand choices to business outcomes. For Madelon, that is one of the most important developments in recent years. Purpose and performance should not sit apart from each other. “We see it as our duty, as Achmea and the brands, to address those societal themes,” she says. “But naturally, in the long term, we also have to pursue our business.”

That means the company now asks more directly how social relevance contributes to commercial impact. “Making sure that it also really contributes to a business objective” has become an essential part of the equation. For Madelon, that is not a contradiction, it leads to advantages for society, business and for customers. In the case of Interpolis, for instance, helping people prevent damage should also help reduce claims frequency or claims burden. For Zilveren Kruis, initiatives around prevention and health should ultimately also contribute to outcomes such as shortening waiting lists.

“We see it as our duty, as Achmea and the brands, to address those societal themes. But naturally, in the long term, we also have to pursue our business.”

Distinctiveness in a Crowded Category

Another important theme in her thinking is distinctiveness. In a category where differentiation is not always easy, one of Achmea’s challenges is to ensure that each brand develops its own recognisable identity. As Madelon puts it: “Within a company like Achmea with multiple brands, so a brand portfolio, and also in the market we operate in, it is about trying to be more distinctive from one another and to have your own face.”

That sounds easier than it is. “We can put it very nicely on paper,” Madelon says. “But ultimately, making sure that it is actually experienced that way by customers and potential customers, that remains a challenge.” In what she calls “that grey insurance world”, brand meaning has to be felt, not just formulated.

Relevance is Becoming Harder to Earn

Looking ahead, Madelon sees relevance as the theme that will only become more important. “The current consumer is so overloaded with messages, but also with products, with choices,” she says, “that you simply have to be relevant with both your product offering, but also your services, but also your tips, your information.”

That is why she sees relevance not just as a communication issue, but as something broader. Brands must understand what customers actually need and how they can help in a concrete way. “If you want to stand out, if you want to be able to reach them, then you have to be relevant. In my view that is the first condition.” 

“If you want to stand out, if you want to be able to reach them, then you have to be relevant. In my view that is the first condition.”

Smaller Audiences, Bigger Pressure

Achieving that relevance is becoming harder as audiences fragment and media use changes. Madelon believes brands increasingly have to build stronger connections with smaller and more specific groups. “You really have to target much more on small niche groups, be relevant for them,” she says. “You have to fragment even more, so to speak, in order to make that connection.”

That creates tension. On the one hand, brands need to become more specific and tailored. On the other, they still need to remain coherent and recognisable as a whole. “My feeling is that you have to make it increasingly specific,” she says, “while at the same time safeguarding that it remains coherent, what you want as a brand, what you stand for, and what distinguishes you.”

AI adds another layer to that challenge. For Madelon, it is not only about efficiency or content creation, but also about discoverability. “How do we make sure we have enough relevant content for customers,” she asks, “so that if people start searching through AI, then we are there and that we rise to the top?” Rather than reducing the importance of content, she believes AI may actually increase it.

“My feeling is that you have to make it increasingly specific, while at the same time safeguarding that it remains coherent, what you want as a brand, what you stand for, and what distinguishes you.”

Growth also lies in Connection

She also sees opportunity in greater connection across Achmea’s business. More growth, she believes, can come from bringing different domains together. “I think you should not try to shout louder as brands,” she says. “I think there is still an opportunity for Achmea. We have all those domains, we have healthcare, we have living, we have mobility, to perhaps connect them more with each other.”

In the end, her view of brand growth is both practical and principled. Brands grow when they become meaningful in customers’ lives, when they address real needs in a credible way, and when they build trust by showing their value clearly and consistently. Or, as she sums it up herself: “Our brands become stronger by helping solve societal problems. That makes you relevant in customers’ lives. It gives you legitimacy and it ensures sustainable growth,” she says.

“Our brands become stronger by helping solve societal problems. That makes you relevant in customers’ lives. It gives you legitimacy and it ensures sustainable growth.”