1989 advert for The Prudential ‘I want to be a tree’ version

The Company was founded on 30 May 1848 in Hatton Garden in London as The Prudential Mutual Assurance Investment and Loan Association providing loans to professional and working people.

In 1854 the Company began selling the relatively new concept of industrial branch insurance policies to the working class population for premiums as low as one penny through agents acting as door to door salesmen. The army of premium collection agents was for many years identified with the Prudential as the “Man from the Pru”.

Info gleaned from Wikipedia