METLIFE RELEASES ANIMATED SHORT FILM AND LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE TOOLS TO DEMYSTIFY INSURANCE AND SIMPLIFY THE PURCHASING PROCESS FOR CONSUMERS

METLIFE RELEASES ANIMATED SHORT FILM AND LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE TOOLS TO DEMYSTIFY INSURANCE AND SIMPLIFY THE PURCHASING PROCESS FOR CONSUMERS

New York, NY, March 25, 2008

MetLife, the nation’s largest life insurer and leading provider of employee benefits, continued its 140-year tradition of providing education to consumers today when it released a new animated short film entitled "Everybody into the Pool" and launched Simplified^SM by MetLife, a new online micro site for consumers. The goal of the educational film, which features Snoopy®, is to demystify how insurance works by explaining in layperson’s terms the powerful and efficient financial principle that makes insurance possible and within reach: risk pooling. MetLife is also simplifying the insurance decision-making process for consumers with its new online tools.

"Consumers want the protection and guarantees provided by insurance," said Beth Hirschhorn, MetLife’s chief marketing officer. "But too often people put off the coverage they know they need because of the perceived complexity surrounding insurance products. We are addressing these perceptions through our educational campaign and our new online Simplified tools."

Everybody into the Pool 
With a catchy jingle and an animated demonstration of how insurance works, the "Everybody into the Pool" film is presented in the spirit of the Schoolhouse Rock! animated songs from the 1970s and 1980s, which taught an entire generation about government, history, grammar, science, and math. MetLife’s new film – available at www.youtube.com/MetLife – is designed to help the American public understand how insurance works and also explains as a public service how insurance contributes to the good of society.

"Over the past few years, there have been changes in consumer attitudes and market dynamics, causing consumers to feel a greater financial burden than ever before. MetLife is confident that once consumers understand the powerful benefits of joining a risk pool, more people will have the knowledge they need to create their own personal safety net by obtaining appropriate levels of insurance coverage and fully participating in their workplace benefits programs. After all, the workplace is one of the largest sources of insurance coverage for most Americans," added Hirschhorn.

Simplified^SM by MetLife 
In addition to the release of the film, MetLife has introduced Simplified^SM by MetLife, a new online micro site for consumers, which is located at www.metlife.com/simplified. The new site is designed to remove the guesswork associated with the purchase of insurance. Among the new tools available on the site is a Life Insurance Selector Tool, which helps to remove purchase barriers and enable consumers to feel confident and comfortable during the life insurance decision-making process. Additional consumer education activities are scheduled for release in the spring.

The online tools were based on a recent MetLife educational campaign with its financial services representatives, which began in June 2007, to help them alleviate consumer confusion and correct misperceptions about life insurance, and offer instead a better understanding of how much life insurance and what type of policies are appropriate for their protection needs.

"At MetLife, we know it is important to empower our clients to play a greater role in the insurance decision-making process," said Joseph W. Jordan, MetLife senior vice president of Individual Business Marketing. "By having these tools online, consumers will have more confidence in knowing what life insurance coverage they need to protect the ones that depend on them the most. Then, they are much better prepared to have a collaborative discussion with their financial services representative to put that coverage in place."