Insurance companies coming out of the woodwork

[jal41]

There has been a lot of ads from insurance companies over the past week since the tornado hit downtown Atlanta. I turned on the radio first thing Monday morning, and there were already ads from the insurance companies (I didn't know sales people worked over the weekends). Now, I am hearing them on almost every station.

I remember turning on WWL-AM/New Orleans the night before Katrina hit, and it was full of ads from insurance companies and local utilities talking about the impending hurricane and what to do if there are utility outages or damage occured. But unlike then, there was no advance warning a tornado was about to hit.

It is also affecting talent endorsement deals too. This morning on B98.5, Kelly and Alpha were mentioning the tornado during one of their endorsements for AT&T Wireless.

I wonder how they got a hold of sales people over the weekend. I also wonder what happens to the advertisers that got their ads booted in favor of those from the crooks and theives (insurers - but that is another issue for another board).

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

The Insurance industry does not get a hold of radio, the sales seagulls get a hold of them. On Monday morning every radio station had their sales people working the phones. I have never heard of any business ever calling a media outlet saying, "Hey, we have a bunch of money to spend, can you help us spend it?"

 

[NightFlyer]

These days most anyone can check their work email from anywhere. I'd imagine those in sales were working over the weekend to gear up for Monday.

 

[romer979fm]

I can only speak about State Farm...but several times after tornadoes in TN,
the agency handling State Farm did indeed make contact (and buys).
However, the context of the spots was not selling policies...but information
as to how to contact the company to file claims.

 

[bnaivar]

I get a kick out of one ad that says something like "Call us after you're sure your family is protected".

Isn't that what I bought insurance for? ???

;D

 

[troone]

I have never heard of any business ever calling a media outlet saying, "Hey, we have a bunch of money to spend, can you help us spend it?"

You've obviously never sold for 750

Herb Tarlek would dress in Armani if he worked there.

 

[jabba17]

I get a kick out of one ad that says something like "Call us after you're sure your family is protected".

Isn't that what I bought insurance for? ???

;D

These commercials annoy me because they always strike me as a sales pitch masquerading as a PSA...IMNSHO I don't think anyone needs help remembering to file an insurance claim :....just a bunch of feel-good "oh how we care about yooooouuuu... (so buy a policy from us)..."

 

[RoddyFreeman]

The insurance companies probably are running the commercials primarily to enhance their own image as people who care. After all, policyholders are going to call their insurance company without being prodded by commercials.

Both sides of the argument are correct. Advertisers, usually through their agencies, do call radio stations with money to spend. But, I was contacted on Monday about this by a radio sales rep asking if I was handling any of it.

I also had a few spots pre-empted by WSB-AM this week. I was told the reason was Georgia basketball. I will say that Cox (at least in Atlanta) is one of the small number of radio companies that does not pre-empt commercials for a higher rate from someone else; at least that's been my experience.