UK: Aviva adverts use real customer stories to show importance of protection

Aviva is again underlining the importance of protection with a series of new television idents (mini adverts) which will appear as part of its ITV Drama Premiere sponsorship package.

Launching on 18 September 2011 during ITV’s flagship Downton Abbey programme, the first idents show how customers can benefit from income protection. Further idents will highlight other product areas over the coming months.

Although performed by actors, the films are based on real-life situations of Aviva customers who have claimed on their insurance. The stories were chosen specifically to show how the lives of everyday people can suddenly take a dramatic turn, but that financial support can help in their hour of need.

The 10-second idents - the short adverts shown before, during and after commercial breaks - each feature a different element of the customer’s story, to portray their journey over time. Over the course of eight weeks viewers will see the customer’s whole experience.

This latest initiative follows on from Aviva’s emotive life insurance advertising campaign which achieved industry acclaim when it appeared on TV screens at the beginning of the year.

The first ident to be shown covers the story of Gary, an Aviva income protection customer. Gary sustained serious injuries in a motorcycle accident which meant that he could no longer continue to do his job as an engineer. Fortunately his policy provided him with an income while he was unable to work. It also enabled him to retrain for another profession, while continuing to receive an income from Aviva.

Later in the year, a second ident will depict how Aviva supported Jane, a critical illness customer and single mother of two, as she coped with cancer.

The customers were heavily involved with the development of the adverts to ensure the portrayal is as realistic and true-to-life as possible.

Louise Colley, head of protection for Aviva says: “Too often in the insurance industry we hear people saying ‘it won’t happen to me’ as a reason for not taking out protection. But we know too well that it can and does happen. Fortunately at Aviva we also hear the positive stories where we’ve been able to support customers through a difficult time because they’ve made a claim on a protection policy. This is why we wanted to use real life stories in this latest campaign.

“Gary’s income protection cover provided him with the peace of mind of knowing he was financially secure, so he could concentrate on getting better. We hope that the idents will encourage people to think about protection, so should the unexpected happen, the financial support is there to help at a very difficult time.”

Viewers can see the real customers telling their stories in their own words, through a campaign on interactive (red button) itv.com and Facebook. To see these videos visit www.thedramacontinues.co.uk.

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Notes to editors:

Aviva is the world’s sixth largest* insurance group. We provide more than 53 million customers with insurance, savings and investment products with total worldwide sales in 2010 of £47.1 billion**.

We are the UK’s largest insurer with 19 million customers and one in three households has a relationship with us. Our combination of life, health and general insurance is unique in its scale and breadth in the UK market. Customers can choose to buy our products through intermediaries, our corporate partners or from Aviva direct and we have become the partner of choice for many of the UK’s biggest organisations.

We are ranked as one of the UK’s top 10 most valuable brands and Aviva plc are in the top 10% of socially responsible companies globally in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. In 2010 we invested £4.3m into our communities in the UK, which included 1,500 Aviva volunteers giving 24,000 hours for good causes. In addition, our employees gave £600,000 through fundraising and donating. Read our corporate responsibility report at www.aviva.com/2010cr.

Aviva is working in partnership with Railway Children through the Aviva Street to School programme to get children living or working on UK streets back into everyday life. Find out more at www.aviva.co.uk/street-to-school.

The Aviva media centre at www.aviva.com/media includes company information and a news release archive.

For broadcast-standard video, please visit www.aviva.com/media/video/.

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* based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2010.
** at 31 December 2010.