A clever marketing campaign in the US has transformed one company's brand and distribution. Jason Hurley explains.
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Because the duck had the foresight to buy an income protection policy from American Family, his income needs are covered while he convalesces. (Please feel free to send the duck a get-well card – over 35,000 other people already have.) The series of adverts shows the AFLAC duck’s progress, and how he has benefited from the income protection policy.
As well as being fun and engaging, the benefits of the insurance are clearly explained, you see the value of rehab, and you are told the process that you must go through to claim and how the insurer will deal with your claim.
Speaking as someone who has been through the pain of two family members claiming under an income protection policy, I can assure anyone that this process is long, slow and tedious for the claimant.
We work in the industry, so we know insurers need to check for non-disclosure, we know medical information must be verified, and we know there is anti-selection, moral hazard, fraud, ‘swinging the lead’ – whatever you want to call it.
We understand but does the public? If insurers did explain that they do all this double-checking so that decent, honest, hard-working people do not subsidise the not-so-honest, would it make the process easier to endure?
If we explain that health insurance takes care of paying for rehabilitation, but the policy pays for living expenses so that the policyholder can focus on recovery, would they understand the cover better, and value it more? Finally, if the industry explained all this in an interesting and informative way, would the customer have a better level of trust and engagement?
It could be argued that a lot of this is not necessary in the IFA world. We have trusted professionals who explain the benefits and risks of the policy. It is their job to give advice and to build that trust. However, as the world moves forwards and inevitably the adviser spends less time as part of the sale, what is the industry doing to build and reinforce that trust?
So, building a marketing campaign around a duck might seem quackers, but it certainly works – at least for my daughter, if not my son.
Jason Hurley is head of sales and marketing at RGA Reinsurance
