Marketing efforts by life
insurers often lack originality, with happy smiling faces on yachts
appearing with tedious regularity. Charles Davis talks with US
insurer MassMutual about the different approach of its new
campaign, emphasising the need for expert guidance in financial
planning.
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Among the time-honoured challenges in
marketing life insurance is conveying stability and expertise
without coming off sounding dull.
Life insurance advertising campaigns are often
replete with metaphorical imagery of the nautical variety
(navigating choppy seas), sporting imagery (teamwork, competition)
and history (‘We’ve been doing this since the 19th century so we
must be trustworthy’), all of which was on the minds of those at
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) when it
sat down to fashion the latest television spots for the insurer’s
iconic ‘Good Decisions’ campaign.
Victor Lipman, assistant vice-president for
branding and advertising at MassMutual, and Drayton Martin, senior
vice-president and group account director for creative agency
Mullen, explained to LII that the goal from the start was
to develop new metaphors for life insurance. They wanted to avoid
the clichés while underscoring what two years of near-constant
consumer research told them was the number-one issue on the minds
of insurance shoppers: the need for a trusted guide in a troubled
time.
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A need for help
“What emerged was the need for help,
for a trusted agent relationship, and that research took us to the
need to convey the importance of a guide,” Lipman said. “The
stories we are telling stem from that.”
Martin said that the new television ads are
about “the aspiration to make good financial decisions in a
difficult market” and reflect a midterm refinement of sorts for the
‘Good Decisions’ campaign.
“After the events of 2008 and 2009, we sat down
and reassessed the proof and evidence of stability,” Martin said.
“We knew that MassMutual was well positioned to portray that
stability, but the trick was to find a way to do it that wasn’t
predictable.”
The two worked to produce two TV commercials as
part of an ongoing integrated marketing campaign, emphasising the
benefits of how working with knowledgeable people can help
individuals reach personal goals.
The locations for the two commercials –
‘Hiking’ and ‘Restaurant’ – include a busy restaurant and a hiking
expedition as apt metaphors for the increasingly complex financial
environment. The core message of the new spots is how MassMutual’s
financial professionals can help consumers navigate that
environment and make good financial decisions.
‘Hiking’ shows a journey led by an experienced
guide that ends with a rewarding achievement. As the commercial
opens, a group is taking a break from their guided hike up a
mountain. After they rest, a guide summons the group to begin
descending the mountain to return to the base.
However, two curious hikers point to their map
and ask another guide about a location they were hoping to reach.
The guide knows exactly where they want to go, and while the trail
is a bit more challenging, he helps them up the mountain until they
ultimately reach the vista. When the spot closes, they enjoy a
well-deserved sense of accomplishment.
‘Restaurant’ showcases the journey people take
with the help of a guide, who helps them navigate an uncertain
environment and move from confusion to confidence.
The commercial opens when executives enter a
busy Chinese restaurant. At first they feel out of place, but one
group member seems relaxed as she looks around at her companions,
inquiring about their preferences. She begins speaking Mandarin to
a waitress and helps her colleagues order their meals. The food
arrives; everyone is comfortable and enjoying themselves, and the
commercial ends on them raising a toast of tea together.
“Both spots bear out our research that shows
trust as especially important,” Lipman said. “We wanted to convey
strength and stability in a new way. We used the vigour of a hike,
and the intellectual flavour of a restaurant, and let these
constructs create the role of the trusted guide.”
Broader campaign
The commercials will appear on CNBC,
CNN, CNN Headline News, ESPN, Fox Business, Fox News, the Golf
Channel and the Weather Channel. In addition to the new television
spots, MassMutual is also maintaining a strong presence in a broad
range of media, including print advertising in relevant consumer
publications, such as Forbes, Fortune, The
Wall Street Journal, Newsweek,
USNews, Time and Working Mother
Magazine.
The TV spots are a piece of a much broader
‘Good Decisions’ campaign, including a huge digital effort that
includes online spots that drive people to what Martin called
“educational storytelling” – videos of customers and agents in the
field. Another series of online ads send people to a diagnostic
site, with a set of online calendars and tools. A third destination
online is informational, serving up articles and other MassMutual
content.
The online campaign underscores the service
that the agents bring as well, Martin said.
“MassMutual’s approach in marketing is way
broader than sales – it is a planning-driven, customisable
solution,” Martin said.
The over-riding theme, she said, emerged in
conversations with MassMutual agents and focus groups with
customers. The goal is to demonstrate a partnership, one that
demonstrates that the needs of the client come first.
“It was about the establishment of a peer
relationship,” Martin said. “Good times have a way of masking
issues, but in times like these, people want to be in the driver’s
seat, but they want help, they need help, and they need guidance,
but not authoritarian rules and restrictions.”
Lipman said it was also important to stress
MassMutual’s status as a mutual company.
“We felt it was important to remind consumers
that since 1851, we have been a mutual life insurance company, run
for the benefit of members and participating policyholders,” he
said. “We thought that strength was also a major theme to
convey.”
