The protection industry needs to build on December's G-day sales success, Bright Grey and Scottish Provident has said.
Roger Edwards, managing director at the insurer, speaking at a Protect event this morning, said despite major technological advances, consumers were still inhibited by ingrained beliefs that insurers did not pay out and that insurance was too expensive.
He said: "The market itself is flat as a pancake. Supply and demand seesm to work for every market in the world except protection. People just do not respond to the same stimuli.
"But it all came together in December last year with the Gender Directive. Everyone was talking about it and interested in it and we had a massive pick-up in sales figures."
Edwards said that TV advertising was an expensive and outdated way to reach and educate consumers, in the rise of free online content and viewing.
He said the industry needed to focus on internet content that was search engine optimisation-rich and that attracted attention, using hugely popular YouTube videos as inspiration.
