TRUSTED CHOICE® INTERNET ADS START SUNDAY
ALEXANDRIA, VA, June 16, 2005—While you’re surfing the Internet over the next month, take the time to go to www.homestore.com to check out the new Trusted Choice® Web banner ads.
The online ad campaign begins June 19 and runs through July 16. Bonus placements could extend its duration to July 30. Trusted Choice® will announce if the campaign is extended.
Homestore.com is the Internet’s largest real estate Web site. Surfers can go to the site to find or sell a home; buy, build or rent a home; finance a home; find a mover; furnish and decorate their home; remodel and maintain their home; and much more, says Trusted Choice Board Chairman Ronald A. Smith, CPCU.
Each month, homestore.com and its network of Web sites, draws millions of consumers seeking information and services. In a typical month, homestore.com attracts 10.5 million unique visitors. In all, homestore.com attracts 7 percent of the monthly Internet population in the country.
Other Web sites in the homestore.com network include realtor.com, homebuilder.com, rentnet.com, welcomewagon.com and seniorhousingnet.com. These sites, too, will feature the Trusted Choice® ad.
“Homestore.com is a great match for Trusted Choice®. The site’s audience demographics practically mirror those of the Trusted Choice® target audience,” explains Smith, who is president of Smith, Sawyer & Smith, Inc., a Rochester, Indiana-based independent insurance agency and a Trusted Choice® agency. “And, consumers will be exposed to the Trusted Choice® message of choice of policies, customized coverages and advocacy support at a time when they are contemplating a major life decision—a home purchase—that requires the purchase of insurance coverage.”
The campaign, which coincides with the traditional peak home-buying and –selling season, is expected to generate nearly 60 million impressions or views of the ad and the Trusted Choice® logo by consumers during its nearly month-long run, says Trusted Choice Executive Director Jeffrey A. Myers.
“This online ad campaign will complement nicely the two cable television ad flights in March and May that Trusted Choice® has run thus far in 2005,” Myers explains. “Online advertising is a new medium to us. We will use this opportunity to use to spread to consumers the word about the valuable benefits of using a Trusted Choice® agency. We are very excited about the exposure and the heightened level of consumer awareness of the brand that will be created through this campaign.”
There will be additional Trusted Choice® advertising in 2005. The brand awareness advertising campaign returns to cable television with another ad flight that will air from Sept. 12 through 25, says Myers.
Trusted Choice® is the consumer marketing brand created by the Big “I” and several independent agency companies to highlight the benefits independent agencies and brokerage firms offer consumers. Nearly 5,000 independent agencies and 29 leading agency system companies are participating in this exciting brand movement.
The ten national insurers participating are Encompass Insurance, Markel Insurance Company, MetLife Auto & Home, Ohio Casualty Insurance, Drive Insurance from Progressive, Rain and Hail Insurance Service, Safeco Insurance and three Unitrin, Inc. divisions: Kemper Auto and Home, Unitrin Business Insurance and Unitrin Specialty Insurance.
Eighteen regional carriers are participating: Allied Insurance, America First Insurance, Capital Insurance Group, Central Insurance Companies, Colorado Casualty, Consumers Insurance, GoAmerica Auto Insurance, Golden Eagle Insurance, Hawkeye-Security Insurance, Indiana Insurance, Liberty Northwest Insurance Corp., The Main Street America Group, Maine Mutual Group, Montgomery Insurance, National Security Fire & Casualty, Peerless Insurance, Selective Insurance Group and Summit Insurance (R.I.). InsurBanc, a federal thrift bank created by the Big “I,” is a strategic partner.
For more information about the brand program or the Internet ad campaign, contact Myers at (800) 221-7917 or jeff.myers@iiaba.net.
The brand is being promoted nationally through a combination of advertising, company partner ingredient branding, public relations, member agency marketing and Internet communications.
All media direct consumers to www.TrustedChoice.com, where they will find the Trusted Choice® Agency Locator and consumer information on relevant insurance topics.
Trusted Choice® is the consumer marketing identity for nearly 5,000 independent insurance agencies and their branch locations. These firms offer a choice of insurance companies and policies, customization of policy coverage, and consumer advocacy support. Web address: www.TrustedChoice.com.
###