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Insurance Marketing
Revving Up a Rebrand

Foremost Insurance rebrands its automobile business and the NFL continues to attract insurance advertising.
  • Lori Chordas
  • January 2019
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Driving Ahead

FOREMOST INSURANCE GROUP has just completed the rebrand of its automobile insurance book of business to Bristol West.

Foremost's underwriting company, which is already known as Bristol West in many states, will remain the same.

Foremost, based in Caledonia, Michigan, provides specialty products through a network of agents and brokers. The company, a member of the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies, has been selling personal lines insurance since 1952.

“While the brand name with which consumers will engage is changing, customers can expect our commitment to high-quality customer service and competitive products to remain the same,” said Bristol West President Eric Kappler.

He said the transition of the Foremost-branded auto book of business to Bristol West will allow the company to more closely align the brands to its respective strategies, while also helping to streamline claims handling and service operations for customers.

Bristol West began providing private passenger auto insurance to Florida residents in 1973. Today, it provides liability and private passenger auto insurance across the nation.

Last year, Foremost exited the commercial lines business to focus on the personal lines market. In February 2018, Hartford Financial acquired Foremost's $200 million in small commercial lines premium sold through independent agents affiliated with Foremost.

 

Touchdown

A steady decline in NFL viewership isn't keeping insurers from advertising during the games. In fact, the most profligate NFL backers are brands in the automotive, wireless, quick-service restaurant and insurance categories, according to iSpot.tv.

NFL viewership has lost millions of viewers in recent years. Advertising also dipped 1.2% to $2.42 billion last year, according to Standard Media Index. However, big-name brands such as Verizon, Apple, McDonald's and Ford continue to pour big advertising dollars into the NFL.

Insurers such as Geico and Progressive also remain some of the league's top advertisers.

In 2017, insurers spent $1.3 billion on sporting events and $153 million in other sports programming, according to Kantar Media. Last year's spend might surpass those numbers. During the first nine months of 2018, insurers had already spent more than $1 billion in total sports programming, the media intelligence provider firm reports.

The top 5 insurers making that spend were Geico, State Farm, Progressive, Nationwide and USAA, according to Kantar Media.

The NFL attracts more than 15 million viewers per game. Putting your brand in front of fans of America's favorite televised sport comes at a hefty price. A 30-second spot during a regular NFL season game now tops $505,000, a $1.2% rise from $499,000 a year ago, according to broadcastingcable.com.

The most expensive ad space goes to the highly watched Sunday Night Football and the Sunday late-afternoon games. Advertisers shell out about $800,000 for a 30-second ad during the 4:25 ET kickoff game, which attracts more than 21.1 million weekly viewers, according to AdAge. A 30-second spot during the Super Bowl costs advertisers more than $5 million, according to reports.

Lori Chordas is a senior associate editor. She can be reached at lori.chordas@ambest.com.



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