While ARAG is one of the largest providers of legal insurance – in 19 countries with 25 million people covered – the brand suffers from low awareness of the name ARAG (15%), as well as low awareness of legal insurance itself. Less than half of consumers (43%) even know what legal insurance is. ARAG’s mission is to make legal assistance accessible and affordable by offering legal insurance plans through an individual’s employer. However, legal insurance continues to be an overlooked benefit during open enrollment each year.
So, ARAG set out to reach ‘eligibles’ – individuals who work at a company that offers ARAG, but have not signed up for it, i.e. they are eligible to receive the benefit – with a goal of building awareness of what legal insurance is. The only problem? Legal issues can sound complex and confusing to the average person without a law degree, making them easy to tune out in advertising. So, ARAG put a non-traditional twist on how legal insurance is communicated, bringing humor into the category and proving that legal issues don’t always have to be boring.
During open enrollment season (Nov-Jan), Americans enroll for health, dental, life insurance and more. Yet, legal insurance is often missing from this consideration set. That’s because most Americans have never heard of it. On top of that, they don’t know why they would need it. The truth is, 3 out of 4 people will face a costly legal event in the year ahead. And between speeding tickets, contractor disputes, wills and divorce, it all adds up.
So, in order to build awareness of the common legal issues people might face and would subsequently need legal insurance for, ARAG launched the Legal Needs are in Your Future campaign, enlisting pop culture icon Kathy Najimy to portray a fortune-teller who hilariously breaks the bad news that legal needs are in your future.
In three OLV spots, Kathy Najimy donned the role of Mistress of Misfortune to let unsuspecting patrons know they’d be dealing with legal problems. The videos drove to a campaign landing page, where our audience could discover their own legal future and learn more about ARAG’s network of attorneys and the legal coverage offered through their employer. Interactive banners gave our audience yet another avenue that they could use to discover what lies ahead for them legally. Predictions then persisted via a social campaign in which Kathy delivered a digital tarot card reading along with other social assets that continued to drive home our messaging.
Through funny fortune teller themed content inspired by the real legal scenarios that are actually covered under ARAG’s plan, ARAG would show that while you can’t predict the future, you can prepare for it with legal insurance.
As a result of the campaign, familiarity (or awareness) with legal insurance shifted positively – showing nearly 10% of ARAG’s target (eligibles) moved from lower levels of awareness to higher levels. ARAG’s brand awareness among eligibles also increased by 4%. Campaign content netted 46,000+ clicks, exceeding campaign benchmarks by 162%. ARAG delivered nearly 15M impressions throughout the duration of the campaign, successfully reaching an estimated 81% of eligibles.
On Facebook, the 3 video ads featuring Kathy outperformed the industry CTR benchmark of 1.61%, and native video content achieved a VCR 5% higher than the industry standard. Less than two weeks after launch, the campaign was picked up by AdWeek and named ‘Adweek Ad of the Day.’
