Snoopy and Peanuts get the boot as MetLife looks for a ‘leader’
When MetLife Inc. was looking for a lovable face in the 1980s to appeal to individual customers, the cartoon character Snoopy was just the right beagle. Now that the company is exiting the U.S. retail market and focusing on group coverage in the country, it’s time for a change.
“We have a lot of affection for Snoopy,” chief marketing officer Esther Lee said in an interview Thursday. “He’s rated very high as a good friend and on approachability. Where he didn’t rate as high is things like, as a leader, keeps promises, is a good adviser.”
The largest U.S. life insurer announced Thursday it will phase out the use of Snoopy and Peanuts characters in its marketing. It also unveiled a new tagline, “MetLife. Navigating life together,” in what the NewYork-based company called the most significant change to its brand in three decades.
Lee said the insurer started researching the Snoopy relationship when she joined the company in 2015 from AT&T Inc. The company, which features the character on blimps at sporting events, conducted surveys and even asked people how they’d feel if MetLife dropped the iconic dog. Many were indifferent, Lee said.
The decades ago, “the industry back then was seen as really cold and distant, and when we actually hired the Peanuts characters to represent the brand, it was a way to become friendlier and more approachable, so it made a lot of sense,” Lee said.
“He really served his purpose at the right time when he was launched.”