2010 Conference Speakers
Telisa Yancy
Director, Advertising, Brand Strategy, American Family Insurance
When American Family Insurance made the bold decision to shift the focus of their advertising campaigns from the insurance agents to the consumers, they looked outside the company for a fresh, new ad leader.
The company named Telisa Yancy, an 18-year marketing and advertising veteran, as its new advertising director. She was hand-picked by American Family’s vice president of marketing, Lisa Bacus, who saw the kind of positive change Yancy could bring to a major brand during their tenure together at the Ford Motor Company. Yancy was credited with making loyalty a priority at Ford by creating the first-ever automotive industry data-driven loyalty program, leaving an indelible impression on the brand.
Within her first 12 months at American Family, Yancy piloted an innovative marketing campaign that changed the way people think about insurance.
Along with her internal team and media agency, Yancy brought together powerhouse media properties, NBC Universal Digital Studios, MSN and CBS Radio Network, to achieve the right balance between educating consumers through entertainment and driving business. They created three original programs that communicated a single-focused idea that today’s families are unique and American Family is best suited to meet their unique needs. The programs -- an NBC Digital Studios web series "In Gayle We Trust," Building a Brighter Future microsite offering expert personal finance advice on MSN, and The Family You Choose radio effort – broke new ground in the insurance industry and beyond.
"The campaign worked because it focused on good storytelling and connecting with consumers on issues that matter most to them. Telisa’s deep insights about the American Family brand and their consumers truly shaped the stories we brought to life through our programming and consumers loved it," said Cameron Death, vice president, NBC Universal Digital Studios. "We often talk about how different media can collaborate across the overall marketing ecosystem. Telisa made it happen."
Yancy also forged a refreshingly new partnership with MTV on a teen safe driving initiative that inspired an open dialog between parents and their teens about the critical responsibility of taking to the roads. It reached new audiences and afforded the once quiet brand a “coolness” rare to the insurance industry.
"As a traditional and conservative company, American Family’s creative and media planning to families and teens had become lost in the marketplace,” said Bacus. “Now, our brand has a powerful and strong presence on MTV,” said Bacus. “We needed someone who could help us make insurance interesting and relevant to everyday life. Telisa did just that with this her first major campaign for our brand."
American Family’s brand image continues to evolve as part of the company’s new national advertising campaign launched this past January. Telisa wanted to give consumers an opportunity to see themselves through the eyes of different family scenarios presented in the creative. Vignettes illustrate that no two families are the same and their needs are constantly changing: Dad starts a new business; a young couple brings home newborn triplets; and a single guy with a dog rents his first apartment.
"The campaign is an evolution to where we’ve been. It conveys that we are still the family you choose! Yet it adds the element of our capacity to protect families by telling those unique family stories – reaffirming that Telisa knows what is important to the consumer," said Dawn Mortimer, creative development manager.
The results of Telisa’s contributions at American Family since her arrival: A positively charged brand that is energizing and propelling the company toward aggressive growth and expansion mode. During a tough year when many companies remained stagnate, American Family achieved over 200 million media impressions, brand favorability increased 17 percent (nine times the industry norm) and purchase intent increased 24 percent (12 times the industry norm).
Yet, maybe one of Telisa’s biggest accomplishments throughout her career has been one that too many in the ad community ignore. She stayed true to her company’s own culture throughout the creative process. Telisa rooted the new campaigns in solid research with excellent execution and made sure the values and aspirations of the company itself – its best self – came forward in the execution. This made the leadership, employees and agents alike say, "Yeah – that’s us!"
Before joining American Family, Telisa Yancy was a subject-matter expert and marketing innovation strategist for nonprofits, emerging media and consumer marketing brands, as well as venture capital and start-up funds. She served as vice president of global media, entertainment and multicultural marketing for Burger King Corp. She served in a variety of marketing positions for Ford Motor Company at the regional, national and global level. Telisa holds an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Business, Northwestern University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Business.
