Pop Quiz: Name That Insurance Brand Rep

One of the toughest challenges facing brand strategists is insurance.

For starters, it's not sexy. Often purchased solely on price, the true brand value of an insurance company does not become apparent until the day it is needed. For many, who will never "need" their insurance company on any significant way, that day never comes, leaving price sensitivities the primary brand identifier. Is it any surprise insurance advertising so often focuses on "saving more"?

One tactic branders use is create a memorable pitch man. The theory is that a stand-out character as the face of the brand helps with recall and brand association, and overrides consumers' fixation on costs by creating a memorable brand halo. That brand association need not even be an emotionally positive one. But all these pitchmen (-women, -critters) floating around can cause confusion.

So we put together an insurance branding quiz to show how it works. Can you identify the faces of a dozen major insurance brands?

To test your brand recall, our criteria was simple: these mascots had to have been used in campaigns running in 2010. And remember, a few brands use more than one.

Answers:

#1   #2   #3   #4   #5   #6   #7   #8   #9   #10   #11   #12

How many did you get right? And which ones do you consider most effective? Post a comment below!