Millennials, It's OK to Move Back Home, Says MassMutual's Brand Campaign
Finances Are a Family Affair in Effort From Johannes Leonardo
Editor's Pick
It's OK to go home. That's the message of MassMutual's new ad campaign breaking this week that basically gives permission for kids to move back in with their parents.
The Springfield, Mass.-based insurance company's branding and ad campaign is centered around the importance of interdependence in today's increasingly financially fraught society.
"This is a multi-generational issue," said Gareth Ross, chief digital and customer experience officer at the financial brand. "Parents are not saving for their own retirement to help pay off their children's debt -- there's this dependency right now." He added that MassMutual, which has been around for 166 years and is owned by its members and policyholders, wants to provide a message of stability and community.
The work, the first from new agency of record Johannes Leonardo for MassMutual, includes a 60-second spot directed by Brent Harris via Skunk. It features poignant scenes of family connection -- a boy tends to his younger sister's boo-boo, a woman helps her elderly father replace a lightbulb, a traveler carrying a backpack appears to return to her family home, after what appears to be a solo adventure. All the while, a voiceover reflects on how our long-held beliefs tying success to independence may not be the only path: "But there's another way to live -- a way that sees the only path to fulfillment is through others, that our time here can be deep beyond measure ... What the world taught as weakness, is in fact, our greatest virtue."
The campaign also includes 30-second spot and four 15-second versions airing on nationwide cable and broadcast TV. Other assets of the campaign, which is expected to run for 18-to-24 months, include print, outdoor, radio and digital. A new logo and website will also be rolled out.
The company offered some sobering statistics in support of the effort: Nearly one-third (32%) of young adults age 18-to-34 now live at home with their parents; only one-third of baby boomers are confident they will have enough money to last through retirement; millennials are burdened with more than $1.3 trillion in student loan debt; and the median middle class income fell 4% in the past decade.
Leo Premutico, co-founder and chief creative officer at Johannes Leonardo, said after three or four months of research and going into MassMutual and talking to its executives and stakeholders, the agency landed on a relevant human insight to lead the campaign. "It's our interdependence that is our greatest gift and this first body of work is laying the foundation for that idea," he said.
The agency came up with the new brand "call to action" of "Live Mutual" by going back to the roots of the company, which was founded by a handful of people who decided that the best way to protect their futures was to come together, said Premutico.
He said that people tend to avoid the topic of life insurance because it brings up the concept of death or related issues, so the agency tried to talk about it in a more optimistic way.
The 60-second spot purposely compares small, everyday life moments with grand scenes, such as the sun emerging around the planet as a way to highlight that the little things in life are just as monumental as the big things, said Premutico.
MassMutual is also looking to appeal to millennials, Premutico said, because they are part of a very large emerging demographic and the group has "a lot of financial unpreparedness."
Read the full story on Adage.com.
Credits
- Date
- May 16, 2017
- Brand :
- Barnardo's
- Client :
- Barnardo's
- Agency :
- Johannes Leonardo
- Head of Brand and Advertising :
- Jennifer Halloran
- Brand Strategy :
- Jill Hambley
- Co-Founder :
- Jan Jacobs
- Chief Creative Officer :
- Jan Jacobs
- Co-Founder :
- Leo Premutico
- Chief Creative Officer :
- Leo Premutico
- President :
- Bryan Yasko
- Creative Director :
- Kasia Canning
- Junior Copywriter :
- Tommy Woods
- Junior Art Director :
- Jacob Mehringer
- Junior Copywriter :
- Amanda Kim
- Design Director :
- Annie Sterenberg
- Designer :
- Andree Ljutica
- Junior Designer :
- Sarah Wasley
- Head of Integrated Production :
- Dana May
- Senior Integrated Producer :
- Kirsten Larson
- Senior Integrated Producer :
- Shami LaCourt
- Production Designer :
- Nina Gonzales
- Business Affairs Director :
- Marta Stajek
- Senior Business Affairs Manager :
- Ann Marie Turbitt
- Head of Account Management :
- Emily Wilcox
- Account Supervisor :
- Adam Rubin
- Director, Creative Services :
- Michelle Moscone
- Head of Strategy :
- Mark Aronson
- Director, Strategy :
- Mary Bakarich
- Strategist :
- Ben Breier
- Film Production Company :
- Skunk
- Director :
- Brent Harris
- Director, Photography :
- Jody Lee Lipes
- President :
- Matt Factor
- Chief Creative Officer :
- Shelly Townsend
- Executive Producer :
- Shelly Townsend
- Executive Producer :
- Jeanne Stawiarski
- Head of Production :
- Jeanne Stawiarski
- Producer :
- Ed Callaghan
- Production Service Company :
- Means of Production
- Executive Producer :
- David Bouck
- Head of Production :
- Heinrich Beisheim
- Production Manager :
- James Hutchison
- Editorial :
- The Whitehouse Post
- Lead Editor :
- Adam Marshall
- Assistant Editor :
- Matt Hartman
- Assistant Editor :
- Steven Canavan
- Executive Producer :
- Caitlin Grady
- Senior Producer :
- Melanie Klein
- Visual Effects :
- Carbon
- Lead Flame Artist :
- Kieran Walsh
- Flame Artist :
- Chris Wiseman
- Flame Artist :
- Matt Reilly
- Flame Artist :
- Bryan Rosenblum
- Flame Artist :
- Joe Scaglione
- Executive Producer :
- Frank Devlin
- Producer :
- Briana Brackett
- Color :
- Company 3
- Colorist :
- Tim Masick
- Producer :
- Roshelle Brown
- Music :
- Groove Guild
- Original Music :
- Title: "Slow Motion"
- Creative Director :
- Paul Riggio
- Composer :
- Jon Notar
- Producer :
- Janice Brown
- Sound Design :
- Paul Riggio
- Logo Sonic Mnemonic Animation :
- Brand New School
- Creative Director :
- Brumby Boylston
- Producer :
- Amy Russo
- Producer :
- Jackson Rogers
- Animator :
- Julia Wrigh
- Animator :
- Laury Santoso
- Animator :
- Calvin Prieto
- Animator :
- Peter Lee
- Sonic Mnemonic Composer :
- Ryan Huff
- Sound/Mix :
- Heard City
- Sound Engineer :
- Mike Vitacco
- Executive Producer :
- Gloria Pitagorsky
- Producer :
- Sasha Awn
- Media Agency :
- Giant Spoon
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