Nationwide is previewing their Super Bowl ads with Kevin Federline on its site. When millions of viewers see it during the Super Bowl, here’s how they’ll react:
“That was cool, but what the hell is an annuity? Hey, any more beer in the fridge?”
Financial professionals are fond of saying that insurance products are sold, not bought. No where is that more true than with annuities, where studies (the ones I’ve found are UK-based) show low consumer awareness of these products.
Not only is Nationwide missing out on an opportunity to drive consumers to its Web site to view the other versions of the ad, more importantly, it’s failing to drive consumers online to: 1) find out what an annuity product is and if it’s right for them,; 2) capture leads to pass on to their agents; and 3) develop some measure of the effectiveness of the ad.
The ad does instruct viewers to contact their investment professional. Just two problems with that: 1) many consumers don’t have an investment professional, and 2) how many consumers consider their insurance agent their investment professional?
It’s not too late to change the ads, is it?