• by Tanya Gazdik , March 29, 2024

Collectible car insurer and automotive enthusiast brand Hagerty is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a year-long celebration that includes a marketing campaign. 

The family-operated company started in a Michigan basement in 1984, and has since grown into a publicly traded company that just hit $1 billion in revenue and is now regarded as the world’s premier automotive lifestyle brand and specialty insurance provider.

The year-long celebration kicked off on March 27 with “Keepers of The Flame," which features the people who fuel Hagerty: its employees, members and the automotive enthusiast community as a whole.

The ad features original creative content shot on a Super8 camera in homage to the vintage nature of many of the vehicles Hagerty protects. It will run nationally and on Hagerty's owned channels including print, digital and social media with a message that honors car love.

The spot’s original content is anchored by a concept conceived in collaboration with creative agency Poke the Bear and produced in partnership with Revelator TV. 

“The campaign speaks to our purpose to save driving and fuel car culture for future generations,” says Tarra Warnes, Hagerty vice president of content. “Automotive enthusiasts are not just keepers, we are collectors who protect the things we love, and in this case, that love is collectible cars.”

The 60-second TV spot will air nationally across A+E Networks, Warner Bros Discovery, and MotorTrend, NBC Universal, YouTube TV and theTradeDesk. It will be accompanied by local and national print advertisements in car-centric publications starting this summer like MotorTrend. 

“Other placements will focus on publications from car clubs where we reach a highly targeted audience and know our messages will resonate with these readers,” Warnes tells Marketing Daily. “This allows us to strengthen our relationship with our core consumer, build brand loyalty and strengthen our position in the marketplace.”

The Hagerty Drivers Club magazine has 815,000 subscribers and each edition is read by about 2 million people.

Hagerty is an automotive enthusiast brand committed to saving driving and fueling car culture for future generations. The company is a leading provider of specialty vehicle insurance, expert car valuation data and insights, live and digital car auction services, immersive events and automotive entertainment custom made for the 67 million Americans who self-describe as car enthusiasts. Hagerty also operates in Canada and the U.K. and is home to Hagerty Drivers Club, a community of over 800,000 who can’t get enough of cars.