Is This Advertisement Libelous?

[Rearden]

1man,

Awesome advertorial. I built most of one of my previous businesses on one advertorial running month-in, month-out.

Find a printer who will print your article on newsprint. It's pretty cheap to do.

Make the newsprint resemble your local paper, ie, fonts, headlines, etc., but of course, name it slightly different.

On the newsprint, place a sticky note that says, "Thought you might be interested in this. -J". Should spike the curiosity factor.

And make sure the newsprint is placed in a handwritten envelope with a live stamp.

Of course it will cost you, but your open rate will be near 100% and you'll definitely get many of them reading through it.


Best,
Dave

 

[Larry Tew]

I find these types of pieces to be much like the TV infomercials that are set up to look like real shows with the fake studio audience.

Tell your affected clients about the changes, and help them into a better plan if possible.

 

[xrac]

Personally I think it is a great advertising piece. However, if the paper doesn't want to run it as is see if they will let you run it if you remove the company names.

 

[1manshow]

FYI: I'd placed two pieces of business w/them in the past three years. I took them on through a cluster as a safety measure four years ago. The termination doesn't affect me at all...but it was a good opportunity for another powerful advertorial. If it had been a direct appointment I'd have sued their ass till next tuesday...and won.


Reardon, that's the next step exactly! Tear sheet ad with teaser on the envelope that says "Enclosed,the censored ad the Braford Era didn't want you to see" funniest thing about these advertorials is that other agents get all pissy about the style....do nothing about it...and wonder why I'm kicking them to the curb

Bertolini...I had plenty to gain...they have marketshare in my area with an agent on every street corner. Fortunately for me I gained far more than I lost by publicizing their rate filings. According to their indications, they'll be raising rates again in the next six months...and give me more ammo.

Captiveguy...expect fallout from the local gang! and PIF growth out the wazoo


Rabbi...thanks, I did consult an attorney and he couldn't see a case for libel either. Apparently these old school newspaper boys aren't as ballsy as I am. No sweat, I have to remember... these are the same guys who don't allow "above the fold" ads. Heck, if they don't know squat their what's up in their own business how can I expect them to know anything about mine?

 

[VolAgent]

FYI: I'd placed two pieces of business w/them in the past three years. I took them on through a cluster as a safety measure four years ago. The termination doesn't affect me at all...but it was a good opportunity for another powerful advertorial. If it had been a direct appointment I'd have sued their ass till next tuesday...and won.


Reardon, that's the next step exactly! Tear sheet ad with teaser on the envelope that says "Enclosed,the censored ad the Braford Era didn't want you to see" funniest thing about these advertorials is that other agents get all pissy about the style....do nothing about it...and wonder why I'm kicking them to the curb

Bertolini...I had plenty to gain...they have marketshare in my area with an agent on every street corner. Fortunately for me I gained far more than I lost by publicizing their rate filings. According to their indications, they'll be raising rates again in the next six months...and give me more ammo.

Captiveguy...expect fallout from the local gang! and PIF growth out the wazoo


Rabbi...thanks, I did consult an attorney and he couldn't see a case for libel either. Apparently these old school newspaper boys aren't as ballsy as I am. No sweat, I have to remember... these are the same guys who don't allow "above the fold" ads. Heck, if they don't know squat their what's up in their own business how can I expect them to know anything about mine?

I'm curious, how would you have won? You're an agent, your responsibility is to them and you just damaged their reputation. They did nothing illegal, they filed for and had a rate increase approved by the DOI. Rate increases always suck, and its great to take advantage of competitors increasing rates to win new business, but what would they have done wrong by terminating your contract?

In fact, I'd think they'd have a better stand in a suit against you. Their agent acted against their interests and damaged their reputation.

 

[djs]

The problem with this is your contract prohibits it. If you want to run stuff like this, you'll quickly lose appointments that matter.

The facts are a bit different than are what are implied in the article. The carriers applied for a rate increase. So what? Is there something wrong with this? Nope, not a thing. You may not like it, but its up to the DOI to determine if it is appropriate or not, you don't make that call.

You do have a responsibility to live up to your contract with the carrier. It really is that simple. Don't like the carrier, terminate the contract then run articles like this.

Now the fact you are handing one of your clients a $500 check (image in lower right corner) is probably a violation of your license. I wouldn't put that in the article either, pure admission of rebating????

Dan

 

[1manshow]

I don't need to go into specific details. The state of Pa is very specific about agent terminations after four years of contracting. They would have lost... based on the "minimum notice" timeframe for starters...you don't terminate with 1 day notice!
As I said...I had no use for them...I have other, much better markets that I am loyal to.




Reminder..."They" filed for a rate increase..that filing becomes public information. If anyone hurt their reputation...they did. I didn't file for a rate increase...I just let the public know about it.

 

[Bertolinoins]

My point is that he is taking the short view. Travelers is one of the top carriers in a market that is contracting and all carriers will be taking rate fairly soon. I spoke to a reinsurance carrier that has paid out more in property claims this year than all of 2005 including Katrina. Couple that with poor investment returns and carriers will have to tighten up. It is extremely short sighted to burn a quality carrier over a 4.5% increase right now to gain a dozen households. I have also found that prospects that respond to negative "the companies are screwing you" marketing are not the types of clients I want to deal with. To each his own... but I would be less adversarial with my carriers. All the reps talk and switch jobs often so your relationships and reputation with them is more important in the long run than a marketing piece that makes the phones ring for a few days.

 

[1manshow]

Now the fact you are handing one of your clients a $500 check (image in lower right corner) is probably a violation of your license. I wouldn't put that in the article either, pure admission of rebating????

Rebating? She's about halfway down the page

Yeah....I really have no problem stepping out and being the aggressive maverick, renegade, jerk.... whatever you want to call it...when it comes to marketing. You choose what you think is the "high road" and I'll choose the "consumer advocate" position...and we'll see what generates the biggest bang in this economy. That's what marketing is all about....but I really don't expect some guys to "get it" nor do I care.

It was a simple question about libelous statementsbut thanks for all the critiques. You can go back to your cartoons now

 

[xrac]

I think you do a lot of thinking outside the box advertising. How long have you been doing that and what got you started that way?