This latest ad from The Hartford insurance company challenges readers to follow someone, or something, to reach a goal.
The two-page spread that I tripped over in the New York Times Magazine builds upon the same sort of enigmatic, visually sparse brand advertising that the company has been running for quite a while now. Beyond a disregard for presenting anything sensible to a quick read, the ads all share one thing in common:
Antlers.
The buck logo, icon, mascot, or spokes-quadruped seems to not only appear in most of the ads, but factors into the limited narrative of the concepts themselves.
"The question isn't how do you reach your goal, it's who do you follow?" asks this ad; other, similar questions are listed as the guide to ads on the company's website.
If you ever needed proof of marketing that was utterly and absolutely inwardly-focused on inventions of brand vs. directed outward to the needs of consumers, look no further. I love hating this ad for the following reasons:
- The venison isn't memorable. In a segment wherein lizards, salesmen, and other creatures lower on the evolutionary food chain slog it out for attention, the Hartford buck seems rendered purposely generic. Where are the cute, cuddly Hello Kitty eyes?
- The visual layout is complicated. The reader is looking out from under some archway, shrouded in darkness and unswept leaves, and sees a staircase topped with rays of sunlight. A big, wild animal standing guard. Are we looking at an escape route...or have we just run away from the buck and found refuge under the arches?
- The copy isn't addressed to me. I didn't ask a question when I saw this ad (which the copy purports to answer), other than "what the heck is this ad all about?" The menu listing of insurance services along the right-hand edge might as well have been words like "happiness" and "security." It's all pointless when it's not talking to me
- It just doesn't make any sense. The ad isn't funny, threatening, exploitative, or anything else that might warrant our attention, irrespective of any redeeming cause. I don't get the ad in the nanosecond I look at it before turning the page. Stopping and reading it doesn't help.
Differentiation in the insurance business is not an easy thing; it's like doctors, lawyers or truancy officers trying to market themselves. I think sometimes the idea of having good insurance might be similar to having a good mortician; you only want to think about it when you need it, and even then, you really don't want to think about it at all.
Does Hartford's branding campaign do anything to address, differentiate, or motivate some further exploration that might counter such preconceived notions?
Nope. It's not about what consumers think, feel, or need, but rather what the branding experts think, feel, and need to say pretty much to themselves. The company could have run the ad on a .ppt in its boardroom and probably accomplished the same benefit as paying to run it publicly.
Unless you already know a whole helluva lot about insurance, the ad is meaningless. And, even if you do, it's irrelevant.
My gut tells me that exhorting consumers to "follow the antlers" won't sell many insurance policies. But then again, I'm a dim bulb.
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