Today’s TOP Olympics really doesn’t interest me, but I thought I’ll just take a look. Yup, today I’ll be looking at Manulife, the official life insurance partner of the Olympics. See how interesting this sounds already? I really don’t have much interest for financial companies’ marketing, but let’s just take a look shall we?
So what’re some of their marketing efforts for this game?
1) They’ve started a campaign called “Bringing dreams to life”, with a concept of “real people, real dreams”. Here’s the core message of the campaign as abstracted from a press release.
Its core message is that, just as the Olympic Games can make the dreams of nations, sports fans and athletes come true, so the insurer, with its wide range of products designed to bring financial security and peace of mind, can help ordinary people achieve what they most wish for in life.
Hey, real interesting huh? Whichever boring uncreative agency tot up of this must have really been in a rush or having a really anal client, this is soooo boring…
Right, since this was the core message selected, wouldn’t the best medium used be social media rather than traditional print ads and TVCs?
Its all about the people right, their dreams being achieved with a peace of mind? Why not do it the way one of the airline companies did it by mashing up a bunch of short video clips on how good the airline was. But in this case, just what ppl’s dreams are and how which financial plan helped them. Now there’s a medium to consider when doing your media plan.
Look at this ad below, the core message is so week in it really annoys me…
2) Of course there’re other efforts, the norm of sponsoring outstanding athletes. ( The Malaysian branch sponsored a fencing athlete, who’s the son of a Manulife employee….)
3) Lastly, you can check out their Olympic website then… Too corporate with little interaction…
While I understand that financial institutions need to maintain a professional image (i prefer to call it stuffy necktie image) and that there’s a fine balance in any marketing campaign for them not to go overboard and ruin that image. However, when it comes to sports sponsorship, cant they just let down their hair?
Maybe have that “Bringing dreams to Life” campaign with 2 phases. The early part which utilizes social media, making it more relaxed, fun and not so uptight. The 2nd phase can be where you break down how your products can help your clients.
I just feel so much more can be done with this 55-60 million dollar sponsorship. Does any1 else feel their efforts are insufficient? Or as a financial institution, this is the best they have done?
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