Insurance Marketing Trends 2018: How’d we do?

Earlier this year, Mintel Comperemedia released a series of marketing trends across key industries, including insurance. The four Insurance Marketing Trends we identified for 2018 were:

Trust Funding
In a post-truth world, insurance consumers are seeking out—and rewarding—carriers that deliver simple, transparent products and services.

Scope Creep
As many consumers see insurance as little more than a commodity, competing industries aim to redefine and repackage insurance.

AI Arms Race
Seeing the promise of increased speed, improved accuracy, and significant cost savings, insurers race to incorporate AI into underwriting, customer engagement and beyond.

Insurance as a Service (IaaS)
As competition intensifies, insurance companies will expand their role to supplementary service provider and risk mitigator.

As we approach the release of our 2019 Insurance Marketing Trends, let’s look back on 2018 and see how two of these trends actually played out:

Trust Funding

2018 was another formative year in insurance messaging, with marketers increasingly focused on simplification, education and transparency. Life insurance in particular saw increased efforts toward closing the financial literacy gap through content marketing. One brand worth highlighting in the personal lines space is Allstate, which launched an advertising campaign in July 2018 that reminded viewers “truth today is hard to find.” The TV ad campaigns concluded with the powerful line, “Now that you know the truth, are you in Good Hands?” Allstate signaled to industry-weary customers that it hears them loud and clear, and positioned itself as an advocate with tools to provide clarity and guidance.

In direct mail, insurers such as Humana, Gerber Life, Kaiser Permanente, State Farm, John Hancock, and Mutual of Omaha, utilized some form of the line “insurance can be confusing.” We saw insurers increasingly implement approachable language in 2018 as they recognized the need to relate and simplify if they are going to win consumer trust.

In the insurtech arena, on-demand coverage from Trov, Duuo, Cuvva, and Slice provided a customer-focused approach that offers real-time coverage for what consumers want, and when they want it.

Consumers are more empowered than ever in this digital age, and it will be on the shoulders of insurers to anticipate their evolving needs. As insurance companies continue to innovate upon current products and services, it will be crucial to clearly communicate, alleviate concerns and customize solutions when presenting insurance coverages.

Scope Creep

For years, the insurance industry remained relatively unscathed by the waves of digital disruption upending neighboring industries. In 2018, the insurtech space made headway as the billions of dollars being poured into the promise of a better, digitized insurance experience were put to work. The industry continues to anticipate the product of the Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway collaboration. This initiative is poised with the ability to dramatically alter the future landscape of health care—especially for insurers. The CVS acquisition of Aetna opened the door to a truly one-stop shop health care experience. Following news of the acquisition, several new digital customer-experience initiatives were launched by CVS, which we believe is only the beginning for the pharmacy provider as the acquisition nears completion. Looking ahead, the industry awaits next moves from the Amazon acquisition of PillPack and the partnership between Walmart and Anthem. We expect a heightened focus on customer experience as established insurers look to redefine and improve upon the new-age insurance customer journey.

What’s next?

As we look ahead to 2019, we’re excited to talk about key trends that will drive the industry next year. Stay tuned for the release of the 2019 Insurance Marketing Trends, coming soon!