Leo Burnett Sydney has become the creative agency for APIA, Suncorp Network’s insurance brand for the over 50s. APIA had ended its relationship with DDB Melbourne in August when Suncorp consolidated its brands AAMI, Bingle, GIO and APIA under the one Suncorp umbrella. DDB Melbourne found itself with a conflict, Westpac.
Suncorp consolidated its creative account with Ogilvy Melbourne and Publicis Brisbane at the time.
APIA has been trying to win the hearts of older audiences since it launched in 2014, not always successfully. Early advertising relied heavily on older people stereotypes. The current campaign has been running since March 2017 and attempts to celebrate the “wisdom of age”. It was so rewarding [?: ed] to see older people looking like hillbillies:
https://youtu.be/9Vy72o-hXqM
The campaign was updated in January this year.
Older people advertising is a personal bugbear. I’m older. I’m nothing like you think, adland, and neither are my friends. Good luck, Leo B. I hope you use real people insights and not just data. And here’s a hint from someone who is there – no one knows what being older is like until they experience it. It’s complex and full of contradictions, relentlessly beleaguered by stereotypes. It’s nothing like it’s portrayed in movies or ads.
And we don’t see life as us and them.
