Insurance: First Chicago Using Web, Phone, Mail to Sell Term Life

First Chicago NBD Corp. is marketing term life insurance through a combination of high-tech and old-fashioned approaches.

Last month, it launched a campaign touting the insurance product in Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana through its site on the World Wide Web. It also began advertising a toll-free telephone number on customer statements, automated teller screens, and in its branches, and it has sent out direct mailings, which customers can fill in and mail back for more information.

Visitors to the Web site can get price quotes from five product providers through Quickquote Insurance Agency Inc., an Incline Village, Nev., broker, said Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the bank company. The customer can then E-mail to First Chicago an application based on the product and price information received on-line.

Mr. Kelly declined to say how many inquiries First Chicago had received since the campaign began. All three media have produced responses, he said.

The insurance marketing effort is the first by First Chicago since completing its merger with NBD Corp. Before the merger, NBD Bank had sold insurance products but First Chicago had not. So far, term life insurance is the only product the company is marketing.