Snoopy, Say It Ain’t So

Great, now I have the image of Snoopy living out of garbage cans this winter.

It wasn’t like we were dealing with enough issues these days without being told that MetLife is kicking Snoopy out on his fuzzy posterior. I can’t even hear the name without the Christmas dance song coming to mind. You hear it and see it, too, right? There’s Snoopy and the gang in the holiday special, dancing with beatnik/hippie abandon. For some of us, that was a central part of our holidays.

To be fair, MetLife has kept the Peanuts gang around for nearly 30 years. So, they had a fine career. MetLife is undergoing change and the Snoopy aesthetic wasn’t cutting it. That must have been a sad meeting when they realized that.

The company is focusing more on corporate clients now. The company probably wants something more grown-up. Most likely we’ll see photos of business people doing business stuff. But better -- like maybe a meeting that people seem to be enjoying.

It could be a mistake, though, to assume that corporate types don’t like cartoons. In fact, in the October edition of InsuranceNewsNet Magazine, Stu Heinecke tells us that he built a highly effective marketing business with cartoons.

He is a cartoonist whose work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal along with other publications. He uses a personalized version of one-frame illustrations to get a guaranteed meeting with any CEO he wants.

So, maybe companies might do well to see that under many suits beats the heart of a kid. Isn’t the holiday season piquant with the taste of nostalgia? Even if our holidays weren’t so wonderful, we still think of what they were supposed to be.

We look forward to seeing MetLife’s new approach and wish them well. Maybe they will craft a bit of corporate whimsy to surprise us. It could happen.

Steven A. Morelli is editor-in-chief for InsuranceNewsNet. He has more than 25 years of experience as a reporter and editor for newspapers, magazines and insurance periodicals. He was also vice president of communications for an insurance agents’ association. Steve can be reached at [email protected].

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