Insurers, Agents Speak Up for Life Insurance Awareness Month

Life Happens and its supporters are spreading the message that responsible adults need life insurance to protect their loved ones and pay their final expenses.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors affiliate will run its 21st Life Insurance Awareness Month campaign in September.

Life insurance industry marketers began developing the awareness month program as the deaths caused by the Sept. 11, 2021, terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon were fresh in everyone’s mind.

Now, the campaign benefits from the new awareness of mortality created by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it competes for industry attention with the new excitement about the annuity market.

What it means: This is the month to ask whether your clients, employees, colleagues and relatives have life insurance, or if their funerals and the wellbeing of their loved ones will depend on crowdfunding campaign contributions.

Life Happens’ perspective: Life Happens estimates its life awareness month campaigns and its other campaigns, such as Insure Your Love campaigns tied to Valentine’s Day, have inspired 486 pieces of media coverage and generated 4.1 billion impressions.

The social media efforts linked to the campaigns have attracted 444,000 supporters, the group says.

This year, Life Happens is making heavy use of Instagram.

A financial planning Instagram Reel by Kim Williams will go live Sept. 3, and the group is offering a live feed with Brian Haney, a financial professional and NAIFA board member, at 4 p.m. ET Sept. 10.

The group is making a library of social media posts and other content available to NAIFA members, in addition to the resources it offers the general financial services community.

Other awareness efforts: Companies like Colonial Life, Corebridge Financial, Country Life, Erie Insurance, MassMutual, Pacific Life, Protective, Sammons and State Farm continue to support Life Happens.