MetLife's New Brand Advertising Campaign - "have you met life today?" - Broadens the "Life" in MetLife

Business Wire, April 16, 2001

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 2001

MetLife, Inc., which has one of the most powerful brand names in America, will launch a national brand advertising campaign with three new 30-second television commercials and a new print campaign.

The campaign - "have you met life today?(SM)" - emphasizes the company's new vitality, scope and growth, while at the same time retaining the brand's familiarity, strength and stability established over its 133-year history - including "Snoopy."

In the new campaign, MetLife appeals to customers in an emotional way as a creative, transformative part of people's lives. MetLife, which went public last year, provides its diverse customers with protection and personal planning through advisors.

"Through our integrated TV, print and outdoor advertising, we are focusing on the 'Life' in MetLife to mean more than life insurance," said Lauren Mascitelli, Senior Vice President of eBusiness, Advertising and Communications. "It's about the celebration of life, beginnings and the financial freedom that leads to life significance."

The TV commercials will air on network and cable television primetime including "60 Minutes," "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire," the "NBA Playoffs," and "A & E Biography," among others. In addition to the network and cable commercials, the campaign will include print advertising, MetLife's blimps and a billboard in Times Square in New York City.

MetLife developed the brand repositioning strategy in collaboration with BrightHouse, an ideation company located in Atlanta, GA. The $25 million advertising campaign, which will make its television debut on April 18, was developed by the New York office of Young & Rubicam, the company's advertising agency, and directed by Tony Kaye, one of advertising's acclaimed directors.

According to Ann Hayden, Managing Partner, Creative at Y&R, "MetLife is an inspiring and transformative part of people's lives - the campaign portrays that in a way that is simple, intimate and very human."

MetLife, Inc., through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading provider of insurance and other financial services to individual and group customers. The MetLife companies serve approximately nine million individual households in the U.S. and companies and institutions with 33 million employees and members. It also has international insurance operations in 12 countries. For more information about MetLife, please visit the company's Web site at www.metlife.com.

Note to editors: PDF files and commercials available upon request.