The latest work for insurance company John Hancock by longtime creative AOR Hill Holliday launched late last month, and it celebrates social progress in what we might call the safest possible way (which is very appropriate considering the client).
If we may oversimplify for a moment, the ads concern two things that weren’t widely accepted years ago but are today: same-sex marriage and women in business leadership roles. This is relevant because of all the recent talk about diversity, plus someone really wanted us to post on it.
“Marriage” isn’t all about the SCOTUS SSM decision, but the orchestration does hit a high point when we see two guys tying the knot.
Attendant copy reads, “A different world requires a different approach. While some may sit idly by, see how John Hancock is taking note and doing something about it.”
The campaign website addresses some changing social norms that have nothing to do with gender or sexuality like VR, the rise of full-time freelancers (we refuse to call it “the gig economy”) and even “Living with parents: the new normal for young adults?”
“CEO” is a little more straightforward: it’s about a minority woman who becomes chief executive at a company that had always been run by old white dudes.
The client’s head of brand strategy and advertising Kate Ardini told Marketing Daily/MediaPost:
“Specifically, we’re demonstrating the company’s understanding of how the world is changing all around us and the different ways (across business units) John Hancock is providing solutions for today’s world.
By staying true to our advertising legacy but offering a more inspiring tone, we hope to transform perception of John Hancock from a trusted and respected company known for delivering on real-life needs to a trusted and admired financial services company that has innovative solutions that put customer needs first.”
Same products, different generation. These ads are obviously aimed at people over the age of 35 who have a bit of money to manage.
In addition to the ads and the website, the campaign will include infographics, partnerships with such pubs at the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, and various bits of information about John Hancock’s services.