Why home insurance provider Hippo wants to connect with customers emotionally with its new campaign

“We uncovered an unmet need in [the] home insurance space,” said Simon Fleming-Wood, CMO of Hippo, adding that the goal of the campaign is to boost brand awareness. While the company has previously advertised, this campaign is the first to focus on defining the brand to consumers, which execs hope will help customers distinguish the brand from other well-known companies, like Allstate and Liberty Mutual. “Even with total housing inventory rates rising, we are still at historical lows, which means many home buyers could be settling for a fixer upper rather than a new home with a warranty,” said Gordon Smith, senior partner and co-leader of the financial services practices at Prophet, a growth strategy consulting firm. “So increasing home coverage is top of mind for many home buyers today.”

It is unclear how much of its advertising budget is allocated to this campaign or how it was spent; Fleming-Wood would not share overall budget specifics for this campaign or the overall ad spend from 2021 to the present day. The company spent $100,000 in 2021 on marketing efforts, according to Kantar’s most recently available data. The ads went live on social media video platforms such as YouTube and Twitter as well as connected TV.

Hippo partnered with an independent agency to do several months of research and strategic planning to gain a deep understanding of their customers, including new and current homeowners. “This is a campaign crafted to bring the emotional benefits of Hippo life,” Fleming-Wood noted.

There is no doubt that emotions play a critical role in any marketing campaign since they play an important role in perception and in decision-making processes. Hippo’s campaign is video-heavy to highlight the emotional story. “With this project, we were able to tap into a deep human truth,” stated Fleming-Wood upon identifying the gap between homeownership as a dream and homeownership as a reality.

Hippo isn’t alone in taking that approach. Other brands as of recent such as Opticians brand Specsavers, and hike and lifestyle brand Merrell also used emotion to reach their target audience.

According to a survey conducted by Hippo, 87% of homeowners tend to experience anxiety and dread about home maintenance and worry about what could possibly go wrong. Recently, there has been significant uncertainty for homeowners due to a housing bubble and a shortage of supply coupled with interest rates increasing on a daily basis.

“Running ads based on a problem you know people have and showing how you can help them solve it is just about the best kind of marketing you can do. Solve people’s pain points and you can win over bigger competitors,” said Duane Brown, founder of performance marketing agency Take Some Risk.