• by Aaron Baar , September 2, 2008

MassMutual positions itself as the measured, thoughtful approach to making financial choices in its newest advertising campaign.

The effort, from Mullen in Wenham, Mass., shows people making choices that improve their lives in small but tangible, ways. In one television commercial, fishermen see a storm approaching and head to shore before they are caught in a squall. A second commercial shows a man working late at night at the office. After contemplating a picture of his daughter on his desk, the man is shown at home in a room labeled "Daddy's office."

Both commercials use a voiceover to get the overt message across. "What is the sign of a good decision?" says the voiceover. "In the world of personal finance, it's MassMutual." The effort continues the tagline: "We'll help you get there." Online and print components feature similar themes. A print ad shows a boy in Little League, while text says that keeping a specific appointment is more important than missing a few meetings.

"It's an evolution of our core positioning," Vic Lipman, an assistant vice president of MassMutual, tells Marketing Daily. "We're still about the central notion of helping people navigate the complexities of the financial environment."

The company's previous effort, also by Mullen, depicted people dressed up as thoughts trying to get attention and become "top of mind." The person dressed up as a financial decision had trouble getting attention--so much so that he was impressed to finally meet "What's on TV tonight?"

The shift in strategy toward emphasizing the decision-making process came from consumer research, Lipman says. "The notion of good decisions kept coming up," he says. "People were saying they wanted more assurance and confidence that the decisions they were making were good ones."

The television ads will during CBS's broadcast of the U.S. Open Tennis tournament, and will run on cable news networks such as CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and CNBC. The print ads will run in magazines such as Fortune, Forbes, Money, Inc., Time and The New Yorker.