Jennifer HornMedia in Canada January 11, 2012

Apparently, the adage of “less is more” really speaks to the execs at Canadian Direct Insurance.

Therein lies the reason behind the brand jumping on the idea of having the advertising pitch process portrayed in a series of new commercials for its simple, to-the-point tagline of “Say Yes To Savings.”

In three new spots, the ad guys at Noise (a Vancouver-based agency that handled both the media and creative) make fun of themselves and the industry they work in by portraying what turns out to be a disaster pitch. While the two creatives work their hearts out to present a flashy campaign, the insurance exec doesn’t budge, requesting that they “just keep it simple” and to show how the insurance company can help people save money. The ask falls on deaf ears with the ad men churning out ideas of a cyborg and a rollerblading kitten with chiseled abs as its next spokesperson.

The spots are in fact a play on a real-life situation that happened a year ago, when the president of the company jokingly asked a Noise creative and account director what kind of “out-there” idea they were going to pitch next, Trevor Carr, president and CEO, Noise tells MiC.

Read Media in Canada's full story here.

Jonathan PaulStimulant January 11, 2012

Canadian Direct Insurance is keeping it simple with its latest campaign, care of Vancouver-based Noise. It wants consumers to know, simply put, that it saves people money and that’s a message that doesn’t require crazy artwork to convey in commercials…or does it?

Watch the spots and read the full creative credits on Stimulant online.

Eve LazarusJanuary 10, 2012 Marketing Magazine

Michael Milardo, creative director at Noise Digital, was waiting to unveil a presentation to client Canadian Direct Insurance when its chairman walked by and asked why they couldn’t just say the company saved people money instead of wrecking cash with flame throwers, chainsaws and graters (i.e. the concept of the last campaign).

The idea became the basis of three television ads that launched this month in a campaign called “Say yes to savings.”

Read the rest of Marketing magazine's story here.

Canadian Direct Insurance Noise

Media In CanadaNews Briefs by Katie Bailey

Canadian Direct Insurance has named Vancouver and Toronto-based digital agency Noise as its full-service agency of record.

The move, announced yesterday, brings all of Canadian Direct's marketing initiatives together under one provider. Noise will now handle traditional and digital campaign strategies, as well as media buying and planning.

The companies have been working together for six years on digital strategies, and in the past two years, the lines between traditional and digital media campaigns were blurring, so it made sense to go with a single agency for both, Trisha Tyrrell, senior manager, business development, Canadian Direct, tells MiC.

"They've been involved with our traditional campaigns for the past couple years and since they've been involved, I've found that their creative ideas and way of thinking were taking the lead," she explains. "[Going forward] I wasn't interested in working with two different agencies and I felt that Noise could do the job on both sides."

Canadian Direct's digital strategies have been almost too successful in recent years, Tyrrell says. When the insurer started driving people to its website to book their auto insurance online, it quickly consumed 60% of their business, she explains, which was too much for the company to handle. They've since dialed back their marketing creative drive-to-web and that part of the business now sits at a more-manageable 30%, she says.

Online tactics will continue to be a priority for Canadian Direct's media planning, a release on the announcement stated, but TV, print and radio will remain in the mix. The company declined to comment on its average media spend.