Advisor Today - April 2009

LIFE FOUNDATION
A New Awareness Campaign

In the build-up to Valentine’s Day in February, the LIFE Foundation introduced a new awareness campaign called “Insure Your Love.”

Like the Life Insurance Awareness Month campaign that LIFE coordinates each September, the campaign gives advisors an opportunity to reach out to people to engage them in discussions about their life insurance needs. The campaign was also a pilot test to determine the viability of the concept. LIFE is now assessing what transpired during the campaign and deciding whether to repeat it in the future.

“We were very encouraged by all the great feedback we received from the industry in response to the trial run of ‘Insure Your Love,’” says Marvin H. Feldman, CLU, ChFC, president and CEO of the LIFE Foundation. “The LIFE board will soon decide if this is something we’ll do every year to support the industry, but it’s fair to say that those we heard from saw great potential and would love to see it happen again.”

A great PR platform The campaign presents advisors with a new marketing opportunity, but it also provides LIFE with a great platform to drive its awareness-building efforts. In the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, LIFE participated in a wide array of promotional efforts:

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Advertising: A new love-themed print ad appeared in the February issues of People, US Weekly and Star. See the ad at www.lifehappens.org/lovead.

■ Television media tour: Television personalities Bob Guiney and Evan Farmer encouraged people to consider giving the gift of life insur-

ance in interviews they conducted in 10 major markets nationwide.

■ Microsite: Available at www.insureyour- love.org, this new section describes the connection between love and life insurance, and features a new web movie called, “You Do It for Love.”

■ Contest: LIFE held a contest in which entrants were asked to describe how a close friend or family member exhibited selfless love. The grand prize winner received a gift from the Cartier Love Collection. The contest drew hundreds of entries, and the best ones will be featured on a new web page LIFE is developing.

■ Radio promotions: LIFE partnered with top radio stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston on week-long promotions when listeners won Valentine’s Day dinner by sharing who was at the top of their “selfless love” list.

■ Blogging: LIFE aggressively reached out to mom bloggers to spread its messages about both the campaign and the various promotions it sponsored.

Year-round marketing LIFE believes the “Insure Your Love” concept can be effective at any time of the year. It offers a suite of marketing resources that you can access at www. lifehappens.org/lovekit. Most of the resources make no references to Valentine’s Day and you can use them any time. For more information, email love@ lifehappens.org.