MANULIFE FINANCIAL BREAKS FIRST CAMPAIGN
By Adnews Staff
A Canadian insurance giant left behind its century-old custom of next-to-nonexistant advertising last week. Manulife Financial has kicked-off its first major consumer advertising campaign in 110 years, promoting the company's full range of financial planning products and services in both Canada and the United States. "We are Canada's largest insurance company, yet in Canadian consumer recognition we rank 18th," says Manulife president and CEO Dominic D'Alessandro in a release. "In today's competitive environment, that's not good enough." The Canadian campaign, entitled "What's on your mind", tries to address the broad array of questions consumers have today about their finances and to portray Manulife as a place where they can get "expertise, non-threatening advice and guidance". The Canadian campaign was developed by SMW Advertising Ltd. of Toronto. It will air throughout the fall on television, in newspapers and in consumer magazines. The U.S. campaign, which was developed by Lord Dentsu and Partners of New York, will begin to run in major print media this month.