Insurance News Ad Oscars 2021 How insurance advertisers employed cut-through tactics in a distracting year – and who did it best By Kim McNeil, Partner at The Lead Agency
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he Ad Oscars awards have become something of a Christmas tradition at Insurance News. Once again, we marketing experts at The Lead Agency have searched high and low for the most effective insurance commercials in 2021, awarding the best with a highly sought-after Insurance News Ad Oscar. Just as we all thought we were on the road to recovery, 2021 had other plans for us. It turns out we hadn’t recovered from COVID-19, but we were also well over baking sourdough loaves and organising zoom parties. On top of widespread pandemic fatigue, Australia also had to contend in the past year with riots, storms, floods and even an earthquake. Businesses and marketers have yet again had to pivot their strategies to focus them on issues that matter to consumers. In 2020 many
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companies embraced the pandemic and used it in their advertising campaigns. Last year, Youi’s “Life Changes” campaign (https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWUE84tBQwY) earned our accolade as the one that best incorporated the 2020 environment into an advertising campaign. QBE’s “New Normal” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GIQJVpZ4rg) was a close runner-up. But this year there was very little mention of the virus in insurance ads. It seems advertisers are also suffering pandemic fatigue and decided to focus on building their brand and reputation instead. Insurers have needed to find different ways to engage with their customers, who after being in front of screens for a large part of the past 24 months are becoming numb to digital advertising. This year’s Insurance News Ad Oscars focus on those companies that succeeded.
The Greta Thunberg Thumbs-up Award:
For the business that best embraced its corporate responsibility to activate change Society as a whole is evolving to become more aware of global issues and the need for everyone to do their bit in bringing about change. This is particularly prevalent in Millennials and Gen Z, who are fast becoming a key buying segment. Corporate Social Responsibility refers to the act of companies committing to give back to society. In 2021, where the world is still feeling battered and bruised from the effects of COVID-19, this is a particularly strong advertising focus. The challenge from a business point of view is listening to the voice of the people and objectively considering how to represent their opinions. In addition, it’s easy for this type of advertising to receive backfire from critics.
