LIFE Wins Award for Life Insurance Awareness Month

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Jim Edwards
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LIFE Foundation Receives Prestigious Communications Award for 2007 Life Insurance Awareness Month

Fifth-Annual LIAM Campaign to Take Place this September; Planning Resources Available from LIFE

Arlington, VA – May 28, 2008 – Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM) has succeeded in bringing the industry together in support of a common objective: to remind Americans of their need to include life insurance in their financial plans. Since its inception in September 2004, the campaign has steadily grown in scope and impact within the industry. Now, the campaign is attracting outside recognition as well. The nonprofit LIFE Foundation, which coordinates LIAM, was recently awarded a “Big Apple Award” by the New York chapter of the Public Relations Society of America in recognition of the success of the 2007 LIAM campaign. The Big Apple Awards honor excellence in communications programming.

LIAM 2007 was recognized as the best campaign in the category “Special Events or Observances: More Than Seven Days: Government, Associations & Non-Profit Organizations.” LIFE received the award on May 22 at the 21st Annual Big Apple Awards banquet in New York, attended by hundreds of top communications professionals.

“This award confirms what most of us know—that Life Insurance Awareness Month is something special. It recognizes not only the activities LIFE sponsors during LIAM, but also the growing support and participation from our industry’s leading companies, associations and agents,” said Marvin H. Feldman, CLU, ChFC, RFC, president and CEO of the LIFE Foundation. “LIAM 2008 will be here before you know it and we’re looking forward to our best campaign yet.”

Preparations for LIAM 2008 Well Under Way
Each year, hundreds of leading insurance organizations participate in LIAM. Together, they spend millions of dollars on a wide range of marketing communications efforts to increase public awareness about the importance of life insurance.

LIFE has created a “LIAM Turnkey Kit” to help companies, agents and industry associations prepare for this year’s campaign. Available for free online, the kit contains a wide range of resources, such as campaign logos, a customizable newsletter article, template print advertisement and various presentation and communications materials. To access these resources, please visit the LIFE Idea Exchange at http://www.lifeexchange.org/ and click on “Turnkey Kits.”

To increase consumer awareness, LIFE is planning a wide range of communications activities, including advertising, public service announcements and aggressive media outreach. LIFE will once again engage the services of a celebrity campaign spokesperson to help bring attention to the campaign and the need for Americans to include life insurance in their financial plans. LIFE will also conduct targeted outreach to Hispanic and Chinese Americans.

Companies and associations interested in learning more about Life Insurance Awareness Month and how they can get involved can access a special section of LIFE’s website about the campaign at www.lifehappens.org/liam.

About Life Insurance Awareness Month
Life Insurance Awareness Month was created in response to growing concern about the large number of Americans who lack adequate life insurance protection. According to LIMRA, 68 million adult Americans have no life insurance. Those who own life insurance have an average of four times their annual income in coverage, which is considerably less than most experts recommend. Held each September, Life Insurance Awareness Month is an industry-wide effort that is coordinated by the LIFE Foundation.

About LIFE
The nonprofit Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) was founded in 1994 in response to the public’s growing need for information and education on life, health, disability and long-term care insurance.  LIFE also seeks to remind people of the important role insurance professionals perform in helping families, businesses and individuals find the insurance products that best fit their needs.  To learn more about these topics, please visit www.lifehappens.org.