• by Aaron Baar , February 2, 2009

Black History Month is often a time to celebrate monumental moments in the country's Civil Rights History. But Nationwide Insurance looks to celebrate not only the monumental moments of Black History Month, but also the personal via a new integrated marketing campaign.

"This is our first-ever really Black History Month effort," Steven Schreibman, Nationwide's vice president of advertising and corporate marketing, tells Marketing Daily. "In the past, we used to put an ad in some magazines. This year, we're going way deeper."

The centerpiece of the campaign is a dedicated site, www.nationwide.com/mylegacy, where people can post their significant moments of personal achievement within their African-American heritage. Through the site, individuals can share stories, family history and photos. "The whole idea of black history is sharing history, and we wanted to bring it down to an individual consumer level by allowing people to tell us a little about their own history," Schreibman says.

While the site includes a link to its main online sales site, the Nationwide branding on the Legacy Journal is not overt, and one has to opt-in, rather than opt-out, of emails for the company. The intent is to have goodwill for providing a service bleed over into sales, Schreibman says. "There is an element of preservation that will resonate with this audience."

Last August, Nationwide hired Carol H. Williams advertising agency to handle African-American marketing. The new agency is part of an initiative to better reach minority consumers. "Strategically, the African-American community--as well as the Hispanic community -- has begun to be an important part of our marketing mix," Schreibman says.

The company will promote the site via a print advertising campaign with ads in magazines such as Ebony, Essence, American Legacy and Black Enterprise. The company will also run advertising during the nationally syndicated radio program "Yolanda Adams Show" and will have banner ads as well.

The site, however, will remain active through the year. Depending on its acceptance among African-American consumers, Schreibman says he'd like to make the program even broader next year. "If it's successful, I'd like to make it deeper," he says. "I want to create audio and video files and hear people's stories and have them preserved."