At first glance - and second and third glance, too - this one feels like every other insurance ad, just dressed up differently. In this case, it's a nationwide roadshow challenging consumers to find a benefit Churchill doesn't offer as part of its insurance cover.
Not that I care, particularly. Speaking as a punter, insurance is a low-interest commodity purchase that I know I need to make, but it is an utterly joyless experience in every conceivable facet. Not a bad experience, just joyless.
Rationally, a strategy promising easy, generous terms is good; but it is not enough. An insurance company is an insurance company is an insurance company, so, theoretically, all any of them need to do is charm me into liking them enough to give them my business.
In the dog character, Churchill has precisely that opportunity. It has heavily invested in, and stayed commendably loyal to, that most prized and valuable of commodities - a long-running, much-loved and populist mass-market advertising property, establishing him and his 'Oh, yus' catchphrase as part of the vernacular.
Churchill's marketers really need to understand and appreciate the power, value and potential of their branded property.
So come on, develop Churchill further as a character and give him a chance to shine in the advertising - to charm, amuse and seduce us into signing up. Make my kids want a Churchill dog for life, not just for Christmas. The hard part is already done - you have the character, now find its voice, get some decent writing in there, and reward us all for sticking with him.
If choice is the curse of the capitalist society, and choosing and buying insurance cover arguably its greatest curse, then my challenge to Churchill is this: can you make me love the dog more, and make my choice of insurance, and therefore my life, easier? Oh, yus!
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