Ovation Marketing, La Crosse, WI, has created a Web site for the Gerber Life Insurance Co., White Plains, NY, that is designed to encourage repeat visits.
The agency uses financial and household tips to give the site (www.gerberlife.com) the feel of a resource to which customers will return. It also is equipped to sell Gerber Life's children's life insurance plan and collect leads in a guest book.
“If you go to the home page, you'll see we call it a life center rather than a home page, although that's what it is, because we wanted to create a distinct environment,” said Vee Luz, Ovation's creative director for Web development. “We tried to make it a content-rich experience for customers. We wanted to project the importance of relationships and leverage off the experience that consumers have with the company.”
To make the site as much of a resource as a company Web site, Ovation included a list of “lifestyle” and “life-planning” tips that range from recipes and carbon monoxide safeguards to financial planning advice.
To build on the family-oriented image of the company, which is best known for the baby food and baby products produced by its parent Gerber Products Co., the site is decorated with photographs of adults and children.
“We felt if we remind them of things that matter most in life, that would influence their decision to purchase life insurance for themselves and for their child,” Luz said. “We used pictures of a parent and a child or a grandparent and a child to show people sharing real-life moments.”
Eventually, customers will be able to apply for all of Gerber Life's life insurance plans on the site. Initially, the site is equipped to accept applications only for the children's Grow-Up Plan, which is the company's biggest seller.
