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The Life Insurance Market
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A year or so ago I called for a protection-industry wide marketing campaign. My thought was that we should reverse the decline in the sales of protection insurances by getting the public understanding that they need cover against personal financial catastrophe caused by losing their income through death or disability or unemployment. How I wish a politician would stand up and tell the public that state benefits are miserably low and only likely to shrink in the future and that anyone who does not protect themselves against the financial effects of physical disaster is barking mad. But I suspect they will consider such honesty to be electoral suicide so it must fall to us who sell protection to get consumers thinking that what we sell is not boring and irrelevant, but important and virtuous.
Well actually I wasn’t bright enough to coin the last line. That came from the creative director one of the country’s largest creative advertising agencies. He’s involved because the idea has moved on a bit and with, I believe, just one exception, ALL the providers and reinsurers that trade in this market attended a series of presentations that described the research undertaken and the resulting consumer targeting, media buying, social affairs lobbying and campaign analytics combination we plan; as Money Marketing described last week. They heard a well thought out case, focusing on consumers who are not resistant to what we say, but who are confused and disengaged, as well as learning of how this campaign will link up with the several other initiatives from the powers that be aimed at getting consumers to take more responsibility for the personal finances.
They went very well indeed, though the low point might amuse you. It was when one old friend asked why we wanted to grow the market when that would just mean more competitors would enter into it. I was too dumbstruck to ask what had happened to the thought that more people need what we sell, and when a growing market last produced less profit than a shrinking one! I just did a gold-fish impression.
But if that was the low, there were many highs. The several who broke free from their executive caution to tell the meetings that we clearly must find the will to find the funds to do this and the many who have e-mailed to say they will be trying their damnedest to get their cash-strapped boards to stump up the monies needed, show me that though there are many, many arguments to be won, we might just do it.
One stance will have to change though. We decided early on, not to ask the distribution sector and the industry service and support sector to help with the funding. Taking a case like this to 30 odd institutions is challenge enough, never mind thousands, but of course all who trade and profit from protection sales stand to benefit from the growth such a campaign will surely cause should contribute to the £5.8m (inc VAT!) war chest we need to start this fight. Distributors, as I know all too well, are strapped for cash, but I best serve warning that should we face a shortfall from the insurers and reinsurers, we will be asking distribution to play a part, as well as the (generally very profitable) support businesses, be they involved in IT or underwriting or consultancy or heaven forbid, publishing!
Tom Baigrie
LifeSearch MD
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