AXA is to use the web to boost its marketing and customer-service offering with the aim of differentiating itself from its competitors.

The insurance company, which owns the Swiftcover and Sun Life brands, has appointed Crayon as its first lead strategic digital agency following a pitch handled by creativebrief. It will be responsible for handling digital activity across AXA's portfolio of brands.

Anthony Letcher, head of online development at AXA UK, said he hoped the appointment would help the company ‘redefine standards in the online space'.

He added that the digital work would focus on online customer service, digital campaign management, content distribution and social media.

AXA is also looking to bring its advertising campaigns to the web to bring greater consistency across all media channels.