The insurance ad oscars

Our annual run-down of the industry’s best promos

By Stephanie O’Brien, Emily Vale & Maria Gonzalez, lead consultants at The Lead Agency

Who doesn’t love summer? The sun’s out, the holidays are on the horizon, and Insurance News’ friends at The Lead Agency have dug deep into the year’s insurance ads to bring a little fun (and competition) to the industry.

This year, we’ve broken out the big guns. Rather than deciding alone, we went to the market, asked for submissions and had a panel of industry judges select their favourites. Then, we compared them with our own.

We also expanded our search to print and digital. The big budgets of TV make it a medium unlike the others, but what a brand can do on a static page or digitally on a community-driven platform showcases its ability to connect with its audience in a different way.

The spot on award – TV

So many beautiful ads went up this year, excelling in creativity and wit, ranging from the heartfelt to the hilarious.

While they all nailed it in demonstrating their understanding of customers, relatability won the category.

Runner-up: iSelect for Second Husband

“Relateable, light-hearted and funny, but gets the messaging across.”

Who hasn’t felt like insurance comparison could almost be a full-time job, or wish their partner spent more time with them than online?

This 30-second ad captured the dual side of this frustrating undertaking and comically presented the alternative as a no-brainer – bang on, iSelect.

Winner: AAMI for When Australia Happens …

“I liked that the focus was not branding or sales. The ad encourages viewers to see how easily things can go wrong, especially during storm season, and how important insurance really is. Great job!”

Every Australian has a story of wild weather or wildlife that instils an odd sense of nostalgia and Aussie pride: “Ah, spring, remember that time you were viciously attacked by a magpie?” “God, I love summer; what about the camping trip where we ended up in that shady hotel after hail the size of golf balls smashed through the tent. Good times.”

AAMI’s ability to reflect the unique set of challenges that make up our national identity and present these often catastrophic challenges in a funny and oh-so-relatable way is pure genius – a worthy winner.

The say it simply award – print

Print ads come in so many shapes and sizes, from full-page informative pieces to snappy one-liners.

This year, we saw the whole gambit, and while all nailed it on clever positioning and complementary imagery, the theme among the winners was getting straight to the point with a clear and simple message.

Runner-up: CGU for CGU Agri

“CGU make it clear they are the rural insurer of choice. Very clear and simple messaging. Neat and clean presentation. Makes you want to read and then call.”

People love puns, and CGU’s “acres ahead” line is the clincher in this print campaign, immediately getting across who it’s there for and what makes it the best.

Winner: AAMI for Lucky – – – – – With AAMI

“Simple and clear message, not text heavy.”

“Lucky you’re with AAMI” has been the brand’s tagline basically forever, and it has never ceased to excel in positioning why its customers are lucky. Hailstorms, flat batteries, a tree casually parking on top of your car. Lucky you’re with AAMI.

Off the back of its excellent brand recognition, AAMI’s Lucky – – – – – with AAMI print campaign takes that long-held message and calls it straight back to your brain. With this one line over many classic scenarios, it taps into an almost comical nostalgia for the wild, unpredictable experiences we’ve all had in this country.

The I’m picking up what you’re putting down award – digital

When you want to level with your audience, digital is where it’s at. Ultra-professional or playful and fun, getting the message across in the style that your audience gets is an art. This category’s top two couldn’t feel further apart in their brand identity, but what glues them together is their ability to put down a clear message that their audience is picking up.

Runner-up: Liberty Specialty Markets for 25 Perspectives, 25 Years

“Liberty states they can help tailor insurance and are willing to look at most business appetites. Branding and messaging are clear and simple to understand. Friendly.”

B2B digital messaging is no easy task (trust us, we do it all day long). The fun graphics and clever lines that insurers can use are hard to pull off for underwriters or B2B insurers, so why not scrap the trend and lean on your core message and what your staff do well?

Liberty Specialty Markets’ social media campaign puts down the answer to the key question brokers ask. Do you look at non-standard risk appetites? No further questions needed – time to give them a call.

Winner: BizCover for Ace Your Business Insurance

“Great design, great use of messaging and a pun that aligns with the image. The user feels invited to click as they want to experience aceing something like the ad suggests.”

What can you do with no allocated product budget and a team of staff members willing to get sweaty on the tennis court in front of some cameras? BizCover’s answer: you can make marketing gold.

The cry for brand authenticity has been ringing in our ears for years.

Social media users want to see real, relatable people – the ones who keep the business running, not carefully selected actors that research says are relatable.

Challenged with budget constraints and leaning into the cry from consumers, BizCover tapped into the hype of the Australian Open to create an engaging, light-hearted, but direct message: ace your business insurance with BizCover.

This digital campaign was a complement to a full video series, complete with exaggerated tennis grunts to give you a giggle you won’t forget any time soon. Here’s that one for free …

What the marketers make of it

Emotional appeals are always a winner for insurance ads. We saw plenty of excellent examples as we whittled down our finalists.

In an industry on the front line of catastrophes, empathetic, emotional campaigns make us feel safe and understood in the hardest of times.

But 2024 has been an emotionally exhausting year for Australians. It seems we’re eager to find an escape from the thought of those tough times.

We don’t want to remember our rising living costs, housing affordability pressures, changing environment and geopolitical tensions.

Humour, puns, playing on words and straight to the point, “expect nothing of my emotions” content cut through this year. Advertisers got the message, the industry loved it, and we marketers agree.

Tapping into the insurance industry for its say on the best ads, we expected to see some different favourites to our own.

But that was, for the most part, not the case. Among the six winner and runner-up positions, there were only three differences.

Insurance advertising for the future – striking a balance

For eight years, we have analysed the industry and gained quite an insight into what works and what misses the mark.

The ads we’ve loved this year give us a strong indication of how the delivery of the message is changing. Light-hearted is where it’s at, and a little (or a lot of) humour wouldn’t go astray.

We’ve seen this year that it’s possible to bring humour to a situation that, when it affects you, can actually be tragic.

We Australians love a little self-deprecating humour. Framed correctly, we can laugh at just about anything.

The challenge for the industry should be balancing the emotive, heartfelt message that consumers need from their insurers with a little light-heartedness. Or just going all in on the play.

People love puns. They love a clear message. And they love to see the brands they engage with get real.

Congratulations to our winners. Special thanks to our judges for their time and input, and thanks to all the businesses that submitted ads and shared their stories with us.