Insurance Marketing
A Brand New Day

• Lori Chordas
• December 2020
• 

A Sign of the Times

COVID-19 has changed business operations and fueled the way some companies are allocating their advertising dollars. During the first half of this year, spending among the insurance industry's five biggest advertisers declined to nearly $1.99 billion from $2.27 billion during the same period in 2019, according to media intelligence firm Kantar Media. The five insurers sitting in those top spots are: Geico, Progressive, State Farm, Liberty Mutual and Allstate.

Geico, which leads the pack, doled out roughly $759 million in advertising dollars between January and June, compared to the nearly $900 million during that time last year, according to Kantar data. Allstate, the fifth-largest advertiser in the category, however, bumped up its spend during the first half of this year to slightly more than $200 million, Kantar reported.

In April, print, radio and outdoor advertising spend across all industries decreased by more than 30%, and there was a nearly 20% drop in both TV and digital, according to Kantar and marketing intelligence platform Pathmatics. But by May, spending in paid social media climbed roughly 3%, and TV rose 7.3%, the companies reported. This year, overall ad spending is expected to decrease 4.9% worldwide, according to eMarketer.

Brand Appeal

ALLIANZ is once again the leading insurance brand in the world, according to Interbrand's 2020 report, Best Global Brands.

For the second year in a row, Allianz has led the insurance category and secured its place in the list of the 100 best global brands. This feat comes during a particularly challenging year for the industry hit with economic strains related to a pandemic.

Over the past decade, Allianz has continued its climb up the global list, which includes brands from across various sectors. In 2010, the company was ranked 67th overall, with a brand value of $4.9 billion. This year's brand value climbed 7% to nearly $13 billion, moving the insurer farther up the ranks into the 39th overall spot.

Allianz SE CEO Oliver Bate credits the company's focus on integrity, resilience and customer centricity to bolstering its brand value, and said the recognition confirms that the company is on the “right track.”

Each year, Interbrand ranks brands according to their valuation based on several key components, including “an analysis of the financial performance of the branded products or services, of the role the brand plays in purchase decisions, and of the brand's competitive strength.”

Christian Deuringer, Allianz SE's head of brand

and partnerships, said one of the company's strategic goals is to become a Top 25 global brand by 2025.