5 min read
22 July, 2024
by Liam Cogan
For this session of our Reel Reviews, we turned our attention to the Finance Sector – specifically the sub-category of Insurance.
We selected six brands and looked at their recent ads across the last 12 months.
Despite a higher than usual amount of search for insurance at the start of the year, search trends stabilised in the second quarter. This could mean that the market has enough options available causing growth to slow, or it might be that people are changing the way they shop for insurance due to new prices or different types of insurance becoming available.
We asked reviewers to score the ads out of five across a range of categories including CTA, effective branding, use of talent / emotion and more. With that in mind, let’s look at the first one…
Admiral Insurance
The first ad on the list was by Admiral Insurance and centred around their multicover offer, highlighting that the “more you cover the more you save”. They then outline what exactly they can cover, home, motor, travel and pet insurance. This is then re-enforced in the imagery of the ad, with all of those elements being present.
Looking at the ad itself now, the ad scored lowest in ‘Use of Talent’ and highest in the category of ‘Clarity of Proposition. The use of talent was to be expected given it was animation (which seemed to be appreciated by a majority of the respondents) and it was also seen as ‘memorable’ by the respondents.
2.8/5
Hastings Direct
This ad by Hastings Direct was the only one on the list that clocked in at 40 seconds. All the other ads are 30 seconds in length, and there’s a good reason for that. Our research indicates that 20 seconds isn’t enough time to convey the complexity of a financial offer, but anything over 30 seconds and you risk losing the audience’s attention.
In fact, just over half (55%) of all financial ads are 30 seconds in length, with 13% being over 30 seconds in length. The other 20% are for ten second ads and 12% for 20 second ads. The ad itself featured a nice mixture of human talent and animation, but nearly all the respondents felt the ad was “too chaotic and overwhelming” which is interesting given the voiceover highlights the simplicity of the product.
That meant the ad suffered in the ‘Offer’ category and left viewers unsure of what was actually being offered and unclear on what the call-to-action was.
2.7/5
Urban Jungle
This ad wasted no time in presenting us with the product. The talent launches straight into a conversation around home insurance, and though some respondents found the dialogue to be slightly ‘boring’ the ad was praised for its clarity or brand assets and proposition, which were its best performing categories. The ad scored low in the ‘Use of Talent’ category and ‘Emotional Impact’ which has been a common denominator for all the ads so far.
2.7/5
Beagle Street
This ad was very clear on its call-to action but scored low in its ‘Use of Distinctive Audio’, ‘Memorability’ and ‘Use of Talent’ category. Many of the respondents felt the ad wasn’t very ‘memorable and that using slightly more interesting footage could have helped with that.
As it stands, this ad scored the lowest amongst all of them due to its low scores across several categories.
2.4/5
Many Pets
For the last two ads we move specifically to look at two Pet Insurance providers. Unlike the rest of the ads up to this point, we see a much heavier tone in this one. Though 30-seconds isn’t long enough to create a deeply emotional ad, the fact it starts with the talent in tears instantly catches your attention and helps make it distinct from the others so far.
Unsurprisingly, the majority of the respondents found the ad memorable and emotionally impactful, so its no surprise those were its best performing categories. However, there were some respondents that felt the ad could have been elevated at the end with perhaps an external voiceover emphasising the brand name and what it was offering.
2.7/5
Pet Plan
Now that we’ve switched to looking at pet insurance ads, we can see there seems to have been a shift in emotional tone. Setting the scene with poignant music mixed with the talent pacing around looking distressed, as a viewer you naturally assume the worst, which gives you a nice moment of relief when you see the dog appear with a paw brace.
Once again ‘Memorability and Emotional Impact’ were its highest scoring categories though there was the same feedback as before. The use of an external voice to clarify what the brand is offering would have helped but overall that ad was liked by all respondents.
2.8/5
