Producer-Generated Advertising Material

At the end of this month, I am presenting on the topic of producer-generated advertising compliance at the Insurance Advertising Compliance Association (IAdCA) conference in Seattle, Washington. I am finishing up my presentation and I’m excited about the discussion I hope we will have in that session.

Life Insurers put tremendous resources into their product advertisements and all the materials that are produced in the home office. But those materials come late in the sales process. Often consumers are not presented with those home office materials until right before the close.

There is so much that happens before that time. For example, a postcard for a seminar, the seminar itself, handouts for participants, one-on-one meetings, additional handouts, and much more can all come before the actual product is recommended and the application completed. Those materials do not refer to any particular product or insurance company.

Who is looking at those materials? What is the regulatory exposure with respect to what happens at a seminar? For an insurance company, does it come down to the “luck of the draw?” What if a producer who is appointed by, say, seven companies does a seminar that raises a number of compliance issues and ultimately sells an insurance policy/contract to an attendee of that seminar, and it turns out that the owner doesn’t really understand what they bought or makes a “bad” replacement? Is it only the insurer, whose product was actually bought, who is exposed? From a regulatory perspective, does that make sense? From a company perspective, is that fair? How many companies are looking at this risk? These are among the issues we’ll be talking about in a couple of weeks.

I’d love to hear from readers with your thoughts and I hope to see you in Seattle! Stop by our booth and say hi.