NS’ campaign for Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I., “Nonprofit & Human Services Expansion: The Strength of a Few,” was named “Best in Show” in the 65th annual Insurance Marketing & Communications Association (IMCA) 2023 Showcase Awards during June’s Ignite conference in Nashville.

The campaign tells the story of Church Mutual’s nonprofit and human services customers and how the passion of the few staff, volunteers and leaders within these organizations makes an enormous difference in their communities.

Additionally, our work earned IMCA Gold Showcase Awards in three (3) categories: advertising/promotional campaign, total campaign over $100,000 and promotional video.

If you’re ready for fresh thinking, breakthrough creative and better outcomes from your insurance marketing contact John Boler, CMO at Nelson Schmidt Inc. today by calling 414.224.0210 or click the “Let’s Talk” button below.

Church Mutual Insurance Company’s core market, houses of worship, was shrinking. To continue growing their business, they needed to further expand their 125-year-old religious-focused brand into non-religious markets. The nonprofit and human services segment was a natural fit because, like churches, these mission-driven organizations benefit from a specialty insurance provider that better understands the special work they do. But many food banks, daycares and other organizations in this category had never heard of Church Mutual.

To attract the attention of this passion-led market segment, we centered the campaign around something scarcely found in commercial insurance marketing – emotion. Church Mutual is a purpose-driven insurance company that truly believes in the missions of the purpose-driven organizations they serve. So we sought out real organizations and showed the real caring connections Church Mutual has with its customers.

To help drive further credibility for a brand largely unknown in this category, we partnered with NPQ, one of the nation’s leading nonprofit publications, in a co-sponsored paid media launch. Many of our efforts were co-branded and placed within their endemic media network, allowing us to leverage their already trusted name with an audience new to Church Mutual. Our carefully crafted campaign strategy paid off. In less than a year, first-mention unaided brand awareness in this new market segment increased an astonishing 161%.