UNMARRIED BLISS; Bliss

American Demographics, Dec, 2000 by Rebecca Gardyn

The Hartford, a financial services and insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut, is one of the few companies that took it one step further and created a magazine print campaign promoting its services to all unmarried couples. The ad, which ran in 1998, showed three sets of paired cars facing each other, front bumper to front bumper, as if they were kissing. Under the first pair of cars - both red - the tagline said, "The Hartford offers auto insurance discounts to gay couples." Under the next set of cars - both white - the tag read: "We also offer discounts to lesbian couples." And beneath the final two cars - one red, one white - it read: "Heck, we even offer discounts to heterosexual couples (Not that there's anything wrong with that)."

The majority of companies, however, are still lagging when it comes to sending appropriate and sensitive messages to this group. While most won't admit it, the top tiers of leadership are still very conservative, which may be getting in the way of good business practices, says Thomas F. Coleman, executive director of the AASP. "Companies that might benefit from targeting this group - banks, lawyers, etc. - don't want to be viewed as doing anything that undermines marriage because they could be viewed as promoting an uncommitted lifestyle," he says.

That could very well be one of the reasons why The Hartford has since discontinued the "kissing cars" print ad it created just 2 years ago. Sue Honeyman, a spokesperson for the company, says that while The Hartford still offers the same discounts to both married and unmarried partners, it no longer runs that print campaign because the firm decided to focus its advertising efforts on general branding rather than on promoting individual services. However, this year, The Hartford appears to be backtracking. The company launched a television commercial with a blatant "marital" theme. In an ad entitled "Bouquet," a bridesmaid falls after an overly ambitious attempt to catch the bouquet.

The nonmarried set, however, doesn't necessarily appreciate such 'til-death-do-us-part imagery. "The marital images are so ubiquitous that if I tried to boycott every company that used them, I don't think there'd be many products for me to buy," says ATMP's Solot. "But it would be so refreshing to see an ad occasionally that feels like it represents my life. I'd love to hear companies say they realize `It's not the ring that matters' or `We know that families today come in all shapes and sizes.'"

Beyond making changes to the advertising of current services, there's also room for the creation of new ones tailored to the unmarried-couple market. ATMP receives numerous calls from partners who wish to celebrate their unions with large wedding-type celebrations, but aside from a few books on the subject, the party planning industry has very little to offer. Similarly, as the cohabiting population ages, there are increased opportunities to provide specialized retirement, tax, and estate planning services to these older consumers.