For over 160 years, Northwestern Mutual was known across the country as a life insurance company. We needed to let people know that life insurance is just one part of your financial picture, and that Northwestern Mutual financial advisors look at all of it—approaching financial planning holistically to help people grow and protect their money so they can reach the goals they have for their finances, and their life. Our financial advisors help you reach your unique goals through your unique plan. Financial anxiety in America is at an all-time high, and Northwestern Mutual’s mission and vision is to free Americans from financial anxiety. What better way to start than to help give people financial confidence by helping them achieve the second-most common New Year’s resolution for 2024: be better with my money. When we saw that only 9% of people who make New Year’s resolutions actually keep them, we saw an opportunity. Because studies show that if you set up a way to be accountable for your resolutions, you’re twice as likely to keep them. Two ways that are proven to help: writing them down and telling people about them. So that’s what we did—we gave people a way to share their New Year’s resolutions on New Year’s Eve’s biggest stage: a billboard in Times Square. And then we broadcast it so that millions of others could see what they were looking to achieve, as well as the most important person to help keep them accountable: a Northwestern Mutual financial advisor.
“Improved finances” fell just below “improved fitness” and just above “improved mental health” as the second-most common New Year’s resolution for 2024, according to Forbes. Research also shows that only 9% of people who make New Year’s resolutions actually keep them, with 23% of people quitting by the end of the first week in January and 43% quitting by the end of the month. But, studies show that if you set up a way to be accountable for your resolutions, you’re twice as likely to achieve them. Two ways that are proven to help: writing them down and telling people about them. So Northwestern Mutual’s strategy was to help people finally keep their financial resolutions in 2024 by giving them a way to not only document them, but also share them with millions—and most importantly, a Northwestern Mutual financial advisor who could help make them happen. We brought the idea to life on New Year’s in a surround-sound blitz, activating the message across homepage takeovers of The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and digital display across both publications including The New York Times Morning Newsletter and Market Watch. We published posts across Northwestern Mutual’s owned social channels, with an emphasis on Instagram and TikTok. We quickly updated the nm.com homepage to match the messaging. We launched the idea in a larger-than-life way across three billboards in Times Square, one of which was dynamic. We also ran geo-targeted mobile ads in in Times Square, with every execution either driving people to nm.com or inviting them to text us their 2024 New Year’s resolutions. When they sent a text, those resolutions appeared on our dynamic Times Square billboard which was visible on CNN’s Countdown to 2024 and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve for millions to see. In return, people received a link to get matched with a Northwestern Mutual financial advisor who could help make those resolutions happen. The look was bold and fun, the tone was inspiring and human, and every piece of creative was written, designed, animated, and produced entirely by Northwestern Mutual’s in-house creative team.
All of our display placements over-delivered on impressions—totaling 87M. We also had 50M+ Out of Home impressions and 517k unique Times Square digital geo-targeting impressions. We had 13M+ social impressions as well as a +40% YoY CTR to our homepage on nm.com. All-in-all, it was a successful upper-funnel campaign for the company, reaching 11% of our target audience through digital alone (OOH reach was unavailable) and 8% of the general population in such a short run.
