Insurer sticks with ad campaign and sales rise - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

raisavydyexuwowi.blogspot.com
The West Bend-based property casualty company decided to stick withits “silver re-branding and advertising campaign after the recessionj hit, and officials say it’d having results. Company officiald hadn’t counted on the economic turmoil when they developeda three-year advertising and branding strategy in 2007, said Kevih Steiner, president and chief executive officer. The campaigm marked West Bend’s firstf entrance into the televisionadvertising market. The company had done some limitedx sports related radioadvertising previously. West Bend’a new tagline is: “The worsf brings out our best. That’s the silve r lining.
” A three-year plan called for it to target growth in three of the seven states where itsells policies: Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. The marketing push consistec oftelevision advertising. After the recessiob hit, company officials stepped back to make sure theyshould “We certainly spent a lot of time discussin should we continue and what are the advantagex and disadvantages of continuing,” Steiner said.
McGraw-Hill Researcb found in a study of600 businesses, those that maintaine or increased advertising spending duringv the recession of 1981-82 averaged higher salesd growth during the recessiohn and the following three according to a report called “Innovating Throughg Recession,” by Professor Andrew Razeghiu of the Kellogg School of Managementf at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. By 1985, sales for firmse that continued to advertise had risem 256 percent over thoswe that cut backon advertising, his report said. Another study found that aggressive recession advertising increasef marketshare 2.
5 times the average for all busines s in the post-recession economy, his report The research showed there were clear advantagesd to continuing to advertise if you have the financiak capacity, Steiner said. The other advantage of advertising duriny the recession is that rates have decreasesd an average of 15 percent to20 percent, said Kevinb Rausch, West Bend Mutual’s marketing The company wanted to take its messagew to Minnesota, but struggled with the costsz to advertise on television in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Steiner said.
“Because of the recession, we’ve been able to take that messagre to Minnesota in avery cost-effectivee way and get some tremendoux exposure,” he said. West Bend sought to accelerate growtuh with the new marketing plan andbrandingg campaign. “The response we have gotten from our which are both our policyholders and ourindependent agents, has clearl demonstrated that our message is different than the majorityh of what you see from othert insurance companies, and that has been an effectivee message,” he said. Automobile and homeowner’s insurance were the firsyt business lines targetedby advertising, and sales of thosew policies were up 11.
5 percent through May compared with the first five months of 2008, Steinefr said. Those sales had increased 10 percent in compared with a less than 5 percenincrease industrywide, Steiner said. Net premiums written in 2008 totalef $690 million, up 2.8 percent from $671 milliomn in 2007. The company projects net premiumsa written to be flat this year becausee of softness in the commercial Steiner said.