The Personal - Canadians Don’t Know Their Stuff

It’s official: Canadians don’t know their stuff when it comes to home, car and business insurance. So the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is launching an entertaining campaign to give Canadians the information they need to properly protect themselves and their possessions. At the same time, IBC is providing free, downloadable software to help homeowners and tenants create a home inventory for insurance purposes.

The innovative, web-based campaign is based on the findings of a comprehensive survey by POLLARA, that discovered what consumers know and don’t know about insurance. Mark Yakabuski, President & CEO, IBC, said: “We have known for some time that consumers have a tendency to overestimate what they know about insurance and the survey shows that Canadians have a long way to go in preparing themselves adequately against the loss of major possessions. We have, therefore, developed a targeted campaign to give consumers easy access to information to help them determine their home, car and business insurance needs.”

Mary Lou O’Reilly, Vice-President, Public Affairs & Marketing, IBC, said: “Part of the challenge was to make consumers want to know more about insurance. So this campaign takes an entertaining approach and is designed to give Canadians the information they want, when they want it, through a new section of the IBC website. We really want to engage consumers in an interactive way, so we will not be relying on less engaging information vehicles, such as brochures.”

The poll also revealed many Canadians don’t know how much they have to lose when it comes to their possessions. It found that 95% of Canadians think it is important to create a personal inventory of possessions for insurance purposes, but only 35% report they actually have such an inventory.

In response to these findings, IBC is helping Canadians get a handle on their possessions with free, downloadable home-inventory software called, “Know Your Stuff.” It is now available to consumers at no charge on IBC’s website. “The fact that so few Canadians have an inventory tells us that most people don’t have a clear idea of how much it would cost to replace everything they own,” said Yakabuski. “We want to help Canadians understand how many possessions they actually have so they can take steps to protect them. In the end, this kind of inventory will speed up the claims process and ensure that policyholders do not short change themselves by relying on memory during an emotional and stressful time.”

The home inventory is just one part of the major national campaign IBC launched at a media conference. The theme of the web-based campaign is “If you want to know, here’s where to go. ibc.ca.” The campaign includes entertaining TV and radio ads designed to pique consumer curiosity and direct them to the website where, through an interactive game, they can find out what they want to know about insurance.

Source: IBC Media Release, March 2008