FUNERAL INSURANCE COMPANY DELA | Why Wait Until It's Too Late | 2013
Don't Wait Until You're Gone to Say It / DELA "Why Wait Until It's Too Late"
A funeral insurance company stopped talking about funerals and started saying "say it today" instead. And that's what won the Media Grand Prix at Cannes. An ad that reaches this far without ever mentioning the product.
The problem
DELA is a Dutch funeral insurance company. It's a product nobody wants to think about, so the brand carried a faint whiff of negativity. But what DELA believed in wasn't death—it was standing by people while they're still alive.
The insight
The most beautiful words are usually spoken after someone has died. The gratitude only expressed in a eulogy. The feelings only discovered at a funeral. So why wait until it's too late? "Give your words today" was a line only a funeral insurance company could say.
The idea
They gave ordinary people the chance to send someone a message, filmed it with hidden cameras, and turned the footage straight into a commercial. In a newspaper ad, they printed only the words "Dear…" and let readers write the rest. The messages that came in became posters, put up in the hometowns of the people they were meant for. On New Year's Eve, they took over television for the whole night to tell the story.
What happened
The campaign won the Media Grand Prix at Cannes Lions in 2013. Awareness of DELA rose, negative associations fell, and the company's insurance capital grew too.
Afterthought
The best result of all: the Netherlands became a little more beautiful through people's own words—that line made me tear up. A product built around death became a job that celebrates life. Someday, I want to make an ad like this too.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2013
