Content Marketing Today

"That’s So Old Mutual" is Such an Awful Ad Campaign

The wrong name in the wrong campaign doomed Oldsmobile.  Let’s hope it doesn’t happen here.

Of course, this company can’t help that it’s name begins with ‘old.’  Since it’s been around since 1845, it is old.  But, in an effort to solve a somewhat Oldsmobile-like problem, Old Mutual’s current advertising campaign attempts a very curious approach to turn old into new. 

Like many firms with really bad advertising, their television campaign distracts from what are probably excellent products and services.  You simply cannot figure out what they are selling or why we should care by watching their lamebrained commercials. 

You may remember the famous Oldsmobile advertising campaign, “It’s not your father’s Oldsmobile.” The problem with that slogan was that putting ‘father’ and ‘Oldsmobile’ in the same phrase suggested that we were dealing with something very old-fashioned indeed. 

Perhaps the Oldsmobile could have been saved with a marketing campaign that did not juxtapose someone old and not cool–all of our fathers–and a car with old in the name.  In many respects, the Old Mutual campaign is worse. At least with Oldsmobile we knew what they were attempting to do.  With Old Mutual we have no idea.

“That’s so Old Mutual” is self-centered and meaningless as a theme.

The primary problem with Old Mutual’s current television advertising campaign is that it is so self absorbed.  No obvious or intelligent rationale is apparent in the series of vignettes that have people saying, “that’s so Old Mutual.”

We have absolutely no idea what meaning we should attach to a woman trying on a new outfit, a young girl attempting to get her dad’s attention or two guys at the train station discussing why somebody got a promotion.  Even more confusing: The meaning of ‘That’s so Old Mutual’ is different in each of the vignettes.  Sometimes it seems to mean important or influential, but at other times it seems to mean trendy or happening.

If you haven’t seen the commercials, you can visit them online here.

I suppose they’re simply trying to establish a brand.  But a brand must stand for something.  In this case, they have removed all meaning from the brand. 

It was always very clear what Nike’s famous, “just do it” tagline implied.  We were supposed to get off our butts and get out and do something athletic.  Of course, Nike was the brand of athletic gear we were going to choose when we just did it. That tag line was all about us–the customer.  It was not all about Nike–the company.

Unfortunately the entire thread of Old Mutual’s TV campaign is that it is exclusively about the company–worse it is really just about the company’s name.   This is the worst kind of interruption marketing.  We are being interrupted by a message which has no meaning. 

I will admit that I now remember the name Old Mutual, but I cannot connect that name to anything that could possibly be relevant to me.  In fact, it was only after researching on the web that I figured out what business they are in.  Believe me, I would not have gone to the trouble it were not for the joy of writing this article.

Their website does a lot better. But the good stuff is too hard to find.

Although you have to work to get to the US part of their website, they do make it pretty clear what they do and why we should consider them to be somewhat unique. Actually, the good stuff is on something called, sayoldmutual.com, and you wouldn’t necessarily find it without a little bit of searching.

Once you arrive, however, you can find a simple statement that explains how they see themselves, “Since 1845, Old Mutual has been dedicated to new thinking in everything we do.” They go on to say:

By maintaining a lean, nimble organization, we can move quickly to respond to market situations and get you new products faster. And our innovative approach of listening to the professionals that sell our products and working with them allows us to develop the kinds of products that you are most interested in. The thinking is new. The name is Old Mutual.

Okay.  Now I get it.  They have been innovators since 1845. Perhaps if they had stated simply in their advertising campaign, “The thinking is new. The name is Old Mutual”–and backed it up with examples of the kinds of innovative approaches they are taking to their insurance and investment products, we would’ve understood why we should pay attention.  As it is, we have no idea.

Another Very Expensive Missed Content Marketing Opportunity

Sadly, on their website, they actually do take a more customer centric approach.  They deal with some serious issues that many of us are facing in terms of retirement investments and so forth.  Thus, if we are diligent about tracking down the right old mutual website, we are rewarded with some pretty good content marketing.  How much better would it have been had they used their multimillion dollar television campaign to drive people to a content marketing loaded website?  In fact, if they had invested a fraction of what they have been spending on television,they would certainly have generated measurable positive results.