Nationwide Insurance reaches out to African American consumers

The insurer recently announced that Carol H Williams Advertising
(CHWA) – a national agency focusing on ethnic advertising – is now
its African American agency of record. The agency will help
Nationwide enhance its reach to African American consumers with
print, broadcast and on-line advertising campaigns, and provide
insight on how Nationwide's life, property and car
insurance services can better serve the African American
community.

“The work Carol H Williams has done for its clients speaks for
itself,” Steven Schreibman, Nationwide vice-president of
advertising and brand management, told LII.

“We believe the advertising agency will help create Nationwide
commercials that resonate well among African American consumers and
inspire a deeper understanding of our brand.”

Schreibman said the move represents the culmination of a
three-month process which involved proposals from 19 agencies,
which eventually was narrowed to eight.

At that point, Nationwide held a series of three meetings with each
contender to discuss capacity, sample creative ideas and discuss
potential ideas for campaigns. Schreibman said throughout this
rather gruelling process, it became apparent that CHWA was ideal
for its renewed efforts to reach African American households.

“We really bonded with their staff during the pitch,” he said. “We
already have a lot of messaging aimed at African Americans, so were
really looking for someone who could come in and take us to another
level.”

CHWA, founded in 1986, is a full advertising agency specialising in
connecting Fortune 500 companies to the influential African
American and urban markets. It is the largest independently owned
African American advertising and marketing agency in the US, with
corporate offices in Oakland, California, and Chicago-and satellite
offices in Atlanta, Detroit and New York.

Clients include The Coca-Cola Company, General Motors, Procter
& Gamble, The Walt Disney Company and others. CHWA had the
number one commercial among all general market consumers in 2007,
according to a 2008 report by marketing analysis firm IAG
Research.

In Nationwide, the agency lands one of the largest diversified
insurance and financial services organizations in the world, with
more than $161 billion in assets.

Nationwide, which already has agencies of record for Hispanics
(Dieste) and Asian Americans (A Partnership), views the rapidly
growing African American middle class as a potential gold mine, and
the numbers bear watching.

Report Buyer, an online business intelligence firm, forecasts in a
new report that the buying power of 39 million African Americans
will hit $1.1 trillion by 2012.

The report, The African American Market in the US, also
revealed there are 2.4 million affluent African-American households
with household incomes of $75,000 or more. They account for 17
percent of all African-American households but 45 percent of total
African-American buying power.

“African Americans are a huge part of the emerging middle class,
which is incredibly diverse overall,” Schreibman said.

“We see this as a massive opportunity for us moving forward, and
the children of these emerging middle class will also be a huge
part of the equation a we move forward.”

Nationwide’s iconic ‘On Your Side’ tagline isn’t going anywhere
anytime soon, Schreibman said, but the insurer will soon begin a
comprehensive strategic “re-messaging” aimed at revamping the
brand.

“We want to ask ourselves ‘what does Nationwide look like in the
marketplace?’” he said. “‘On Your Side’ – what does that mean? It’s
a bit like fashion – you have to know when to evolve.”

Schreibman said the insurer’s ‘Life Comes at You Fast’ campaign has
exceeded expectations in every measure of awareness, but added that
the momentum of the campaign demands innovation going
forward.

“We never want to sit still and rest on what we have done, but the
campaign has really done wonders for us in terms of awareness,” he
said. “We do not do a whole lot of national advertising. We are
primarily east of the Mississippi, and we’ll really focus on eight
to10 African American markets. We do really well despite the fact
we are vastly overspent. We try to use our sponsorships and other
forms of marketing to help level the playing field a bit.”

Fred Whitefield, director of marketing and brand strategy for CHWA,
told LII that the agency is already working with
Nationwide to deepen relationships with the African American
market.

Whitefield said that the challenge these days is that the consumer
is “just bombarded” with advertising messages.

“Now, instead of hitting a handful of channels, we are vying with
all of this messaging, and so the challenge is to cut through and
attract that customer,” he said.

“Understanding the mindset of the consumer when they see that
message is more important than ever. What hat the consumer is
wearing at the moment can be determinative.”

Whitefield said that Nationwide long has spoken eloquently to
diverse markets.

“Nationwide really believes in the African American market, and
financial services are fairly underdeveloped despite the fact the
market long has been a strong buyer of insurance products,” he
said.

Whitefield said that one area that really leaps off the page is
African American entrepreneurship, citing research that shows that
African Americans are three times as likely to own small
businesses.

“This is a market segment that has always purchased insurance,” he
said. “There is a deep level of understanding of the product and
the need for coverage, so the challenge is really in
differentiating the product offering.”

Schreibman said that CHWA will allows the insurer to focus on
African American markets while avoiding stereotypical clichés that
cheapen the message.

“We try to avoid the old trap of just chasing demographics, because
it is embarrassing,” he said. “It needs to transcend race, while
still being knowledgeable about what appeals specifically to the
market.”