The COVID-19 pandemic served as a wake-up call for many Americans to pay closer attention to their families and their objectives in life. And yet, even a leading insurance company like Pacific Life understands that few people really seek out articles about life insurance and annuities. At the same time, the company also believes that if wealthy individuals took a moment to reflect on their broader life goals—and the financial resources that would be needed to pursue them—they’d be more inclined to consult a financial advisor and seek more information. The company also wanted to increase awareness and consideration for its brand.
To inspire Wall Street Journal readers to think about how their priorities may have shifted in the past year, The Trust produced a brief quiz that asked the simple but significant question: “What are you looking forward to doing in your second act?” The quiz then drilled down on their goals and priorities in retirement, whether it was building and leaving a family legacy; traveling the world; or devoting their time and talents to charitable and community causes. Based on their answers, readers were served a curated menu of recommended reading that included articles from The Wall Street Journal editorial newsroom, content supplied by Pacific Life, and custom articles produced by The Trust.
The ‘What Matters Most’ campaign achieved extraordinary results as evidenced by an impressive program reach, strong article dwell times, and quiz completion rates. We saw strong consideration and reputation lift, 9 times above WSJ financial benchmarks, across affluent financial decision makers after exposure to the custom content. In particular, we over-indexed with financial advisors by 1.3x and with the high income audience by 1.21x, compared to overall content from The Trust. Mobile-first tactics such as Facebook and Apple News, as well as native units, were big contributors to the strong scale and engagement of the program.
