New York Life Debuts ‘Love Takes Action’ With Super Bowl Spot

New York Life, America’s largest mutual life insurer, today revealed the 60-second advertising creative to air during the Super Bowl on Sunday.

The film, titled Agápē, launches New York Life’s new “Love Takes Action” campaign, a celebration of the company’s first 175 years. The creative will run between the game’s first and second quarters.

Exploring the different types of love originating in the ancient Greek language, the film focuses on agápē [pronounced ah-GAH-peh], the most profound type of love, love as an action.

Given New York Life’s 175-year history of helping people build better futures for themselves and the ones they love, the Agápē film recognizes the actions people take every day to protect their loved ones.

“The creative aims to remind Americans that they have the power to act on their love, whether through considerable hardships or the smallest and most personal gestures. Fortitude is required to build better futures and we want to celebrate love taking action with our policy owners, future customers, financial professionals, and employees,” said Kari Axberg, New York Life vice president, Brand Marketing.

“As we reflect on New York Life’s rich 175-year heritage of our financial professionals helping Americans act on their love, we believe the film conveys this message of love taking action in a meaningful and memorable way,” added Axberg.

The “Love Takes Action” campaign, which will run throughout 2020, is rooted in New York Life’s long-held core values of integrity and humanity, and the company’s purpose - to be there when our policy owners need us.

The campaign will also include additional assets that spotlight notable milestones in New York Life’s 175-year history of pioneering actions: from hiring the company’s first female agents in 1891, to standing by policy owners during the Great Depression, to being one of the first corporations to fund AIDS research and awareness.

Anomaly led the creative and production for the film, which was directed by Cole Webley of Sanctuary Content. Webley has previously worked with other well-known brands and his work has been recognized by Cannes Lion, CLIO, and AICP.

Agápē features an impactful voiceover by accomplished actress Tessa Thompson that powerfully represents the concept of love in action. Her acting roles include civil rights activist Diane Nash in the historical drama Selma, lead female role in the sports drama Creed, Charlotte Hale in HBO’s Westworld and superhero Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok and The Avengers.

The bespoke score for Agápē was created by world-renowned composer Max Richter, one of the most influential figures on the contemporary music scene. He is best known for his genre-defining solo albums, his critically acclaimed eight-hour epic, SLEEP, and his 2012 record Recomposed By Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons which topped the classical charts in 22 countries.

His collaborations with filmmakers include HBO’s cult drama The Leftovers and Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, among many others. In addition to his scored work, numerous directors, including Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island) and, most recently, Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), have dipped into Richter’s catalogue. Performed by 74 musicians from London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Richter's musical interpretation of Agápē captures the emotion of each distinct kind of love, culminating in a moving crescendo that inspires love in action.

The campaign will feature the hashtag #lovetakesaction.

For more information or to view Agápē, please visit https://www.newyorklife.com/who-we-are/agape.

For an embeddable version of Agápē, please visit https://youtu.be/-3LTR32dMgI.

New York Life last advertised in pro football’s championship game in 1990; the company previously advertised during the game through much of the 1970s and the late 1980s.

About New York Life

New York Life Insurance Company (www.newyorklife.com), a Fortune 100 company founded in 1845, is the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States* and one of the largest life insurers in the world. Headquartered in New York City, New York Life’s family of companies offers life insurance, retirement income, investments and long-term care insurance. New York Life has the highest financial strength ratings currently awarded to any U.S. life insurer from all four of the major credit rating agencies**.

*Based on revenue as reported by “Fortune 500 ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual),” Fortune magazine, 6/1/19. For methodology, please see http://fortune.com/fortune500/.

**Individual independent rating agency commentary as of 9/12/19: A.M. Best (A++), Fitch (AAA), Moody’s Investors Service (Aaa), Standard & Poor’s (AA+).