| BY Ricki Green |

This week sees the launch of TAL’s first ever brand campaign created by BMF.

The company has been around for more than 140 years, but this is the first time Australia’s largest life insurance brand will incorporate consumers into its footprint.

The new campaign signals a departure from how the category traditionally attempts to engage Australian consumers. Rather than playing on their fears, TAL hopes to make life insurance a well-understood and valuable part of people’s lives, by celebrating everything in life that is worth protecting.

The ad, directed by one of the world’s most renowned directors, Kim Gehrig (ranked #1 Campaign’s Top Directors) and produced by Revolver, captures the spirit of what it feels like to grow up, and grow old, in modern Australia.

Says Alex Derwin, creative director, BMF: “Life insurance ads often end up being about death, so it’s great to make one that wasn’t. We’ve made something that pays tribute to real Australians and their unique lives, without ever tipping into sentimentality or cliché. A lot of credit has to go to the client for giving BMF and Kim the freedom to pull off something so genuine and affectionate.”

As an Australian director living overseas, Gehrig explains how the campaign was an opportunity to really look at Australia again: “I grew up in Australia and I (very sadly) live in London. To spend time with Australians in their natural habitat, in so many different environments, from the outback, to the surf and the city… just to be with people and get a real sense of life in Australia now, was just wonderful.”

To create authentic and open performances, the film used street casting to reflect a rich cross section of Australians being themselves and doing what they love.

Says Gehrig: “We found real people who love what they do, and that for me was the heart of TAL. To really try and find that unique and wonderful Australian spirit.”

The brand campaign is supported by TV (60″, 30″ and 4 x 15″ executions), outdoor and digital, followed up by strongly integrated, product-focused work, centring on a new innovation which allows consumers to build their own life insurance policies to suit their unique needs.

Says Stephen McArdle, managing director, BMF: “The TAL team challenged us to bring meaning to the TAL name and give the brand a voice that would make Australians feel differently about life insurance. I don’t think I’ve been involved in brand launch work that answers the brief better than This Australian Life.”

Says Antony Wilson, GM of brand marketing at TAL: “As a leading life insurer in Australia, we believe that we have a responsibility to invest in raising the awareness of what life insurance does in the community. Through this campaign, we hope to remind Australians why they love their Australian life. The team at BMF together with director Kim Gehrig, have done an extraordinary job in bringing an emotional connection to what life insurance does: protects people.”

Agency: BMF

Executive Creative Director: Cam Blackley

Creative Director: Alex Derwin

Art Directors: Dave Ladd and Nicole Hetherington

Copywriters: Dave Ladd and Simon Fowler

Designers: Dave Ladd and Lincoln Grice

Executive Planning Director: Christina Aventi

Group Strategy Director: David Warren

Managing Director: Stephen McArdle

Group Account Directors: Danielle Richards and Emma McJury

Senior Account Director: Aisling Colley

Account Manager: Kimberly Ngo

Agency Producer: Jenny Lee-Archer

Head of Digital and CRM Strategy: Irina Hayward

Production Company: Revolver

Director: Kim Gehrig

Production Co. Managing Director/EP: Michael Ritchie

Production Co. Executive Producer: Pip Smart

Production Co. Producer: Serena Paull

Post Production: Framestore London/The Editors Sydney

Editor: Tom Lindsay (Trim London)

Music and Sound: Chandelier (Furler/Shatkin) by The Vitamin String Quartet/Level 2/Rumble Studios

DoP: Ryley Brown

Photographer: Ali Nasseri

Creative Service Director: Clare Yardley

Digital Producer: Laurence Pogue

Art Buyer: Basir Salleh

Print Producers: Karen Liddle and Jane Winnick

Fiona Macgregor – Chief Customer and Innovation Officer

Antony Wilson – General Manager Brand, Marketing Communications, Digital and Social

Cheryl Pearl – Senior Manager, Brand Strategy