Two weeks ago, fintech disruptor DeadHappy announced that it was shutting its doors to new customers. The firm took the unusual step after its insurance partners pulled the rug following a disastrous advertising campaign.
In a statement DeadHappy said: “Our insurance partners have told us we can’t accept new life insurance customers at the moment. We wish it was different, we believe it should be different, but unfortunately not everyone agrees.”
The grim news sounded like last rites. DeadHappy bites the dust, the obituary headline reads.
If this is it, then it’s a sad end for a company that has set out to change consumer attitudes towards death.
DeadHappy was established in 2013 with the aim of disrupting the traditional broker model with a simpler online experience for consumers.
Its product offering focused solely on term life insurance with a maximum payout of £350,000. It is a simple protection proposition.
However, the marketing of its proposition was anything but simple. In fact, this was its most potent weapon to get the attention of underserved demographics.
Its provocative and shocking life-insurance adverts gained it national fame or infamy depending on who you speak to.
Taglines such as “Life insurance to die for” and “Please die responsibly” became national buzzwords. It was truly an innovator and a breath of fresh air in an industry replete with dull and boring adverts.
However, DeadHappy’s approach to marketing divided opinions. It was loved and loathed in equal measures. For a long while it had people thinking and talking about an issue that most people don’t want to think or talk about – death.
As a result, the firm’s brand recognition and footfall rose. Its advertising campaigns were lauded as smart and quirky: the dreams of marketing executives and online copywriters.
But in the era of social media and cancel culture, DeadHappy was dancing precariously on the cliff edge of oblivion.
It pushed the boundaries of good taste and in the process, courted national controversy.
In September 2019, the firm was reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for an advert it deemed offensive.
ASA ruled that the ad which featured an image of a man leaning his head against a wall with the strapline “Life insurance to die for” trivialised suicide. The ad was banned.
Last year, DeadHappy ran its most shocking social media ad campaign featuring the serial killer Harold Shipman with the tagline “Because you never know who your doctor might be.”
The ad caused uproar and led to a flurry of complaints to the ASA. Again, the ASA banned the advert for violating the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) code.
A statement issued by the ASA said: “The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society. They must not contain anything likely to cause serious or widespread offence or incorporate a shocking claim or image merely to attract attention.
“The ads contained an image of the serial murderer, Harold Shipman, a British doctor who is estimated to have murdered between 215 and 260 of his patients. We considered that the image of Shipman would be instantly recognisable to many people.”
The Harold Shipman ad was a red line for DeadHappy’s insurance partners. Shepherds Friendly, which provides insurance coverage for DeadHappy, also reprimanded it for the “distasteful advert” and said it was investigating the matter further.
Last month, it revealed that it was severing ties with DeadHappy. “Shepherds Friendly will no longer take on any business as DeadHappy’s underwriter. This does not affect DeadHappy customers where Shepherds Friendly is the underwriter,” the mutual insurer said.
For many brokers, the closure of DeadHappy was sad but not surprising.
“Looks like the final nail in the coffin for Dead Happy and without their suppliers, their business is buried,” Ranald Mitchell, director at Charwin Private Clients told Newspage.
Chess Mortgages founder Bob Singh added: “The closure of DeadHappy, while sad for the employees, is a lesson to all business owners who fail to recognise the fine line between humour and bad taste in their branding or advertising.
“We are no longer living in the 80s but in a world that is sensitive to such hurtful and insensitive campaigns. It remains to be seen if the advertising agency behind this campaign also dies a death.”
Release Freedom broker/director Simon Bridgland said: “With maverick advertising, DeadHappy has proved that pushing the boundaries of decency too far will be fatal to any business.
“Consumers voiced their anger very clearly in the short space of time that the business had a pulse.
“Now that their insurance partners have distanced themselves by demanding a stop to new business, DeadHappy is the one flatlining.”
It’s worth pointing out that the firm has not lost its sense of humour. Its new tagline is Dead Unhappy.
