Insurance firms keep up the pitch on advertising spend

DESPITE a tough economic backdrop, most of South Africa’s financial services firms are not holding back when it comes to advertising spend.

According to data from Nielsen, financial services firms spent a total of R3.24 billion on advertising in the first half of 2016.

The top spenders were Clientèle Life, spending a total of R380-million, followed by OUT-surance, which laid out R308 million.

In contrast, larger insurance firms went relatively easy on ad spend, with Discovery only spending R152-million, followed by Old Mutual at R108 million. Momentum Life Assurance was one of the companies that spent the least on advertising, with its first-half outlay sitting at R65-million.

With tight budgets and a fierce environment, more and more companies are finding themselves having to be economical about their marketing and advertising spending — relying more on brand awareness and association to capture their audience.

That, said Mathew Weiss, MD of Brand Union, is what sets meaningful adverts apart. “You really have to find something memorable with a brand and that’s what people need,” he said.

Companies that straddle the line between financial and other markets have had to be innovative with their ad spend.

Vodacom, for instance, with a presence in both telecommunications and finance, has had to box clever when it comes to campaigns geared towards its insurance products.

“Our budget for advertising or marketing drives for insur-connected, ance is relatively limited, which means we have to find smarter and more cost-effective ways to grow our market presence,” said Andrew Culbert, managing executive of Vodacom Telcosurance.

One of the ways it has achieved this is by using Vodacom-owned channels and leveraging off its existing customer base.

Culbert also highlighted the importance of education and creating awareness.

More people are becoming with information at their fingertips; insurers need to create an impression in order to not only to capture clients’ attention, but also to get them to follow through on their commitments.

Advertising online, where consumers spend a great deal of time, is one way brands can capture their audience.

Online advertising is considered more effective as it allows more interaction with consumers.

Weiss said customers were looking less at product cost and more at what products could do for them.

It is therefore important for companies to ensure that, through their advertising, people associate them with their needs.

“The brands that focus more on how their product can enhance the consumer’s life as opposed to the price of a product have a higher chance of securing a potential customer’s interest,” said Weiss.

It is anticipated that, globally, internet advertising will exceed TV advertising by 2019. However, Nielsen anticipates that growth in internet advertising will be slow in South Africa, with online making up only 10% of total advertising by 2019.

You really have to find something memorable with a brand