2021 Marketing Conference

Welcome to the conference.

The Science Behind the Art: How Customer Experience Drives Positive Outcomes

Sharon Scanlon

Insurance might not be the first industry that comes to mind when people think about a superior customer experience. But for us, the customer experience we deliver isn’t just about an intuitive website or a friendly voice on the phone — if we do it right, we can have a real, measurable impact on people’s financial futures. And with more Americans than ever focused on protecting their savings and ensuring they last through retirement, it’s up to us to deliver an experience that truly creates positive outcomes.

Driving Automation and Account-Based Marketing to Influence Customer Consideration and Acquisition

Ketty Trivedi

Integrating and automating engagement to target, engage, activate and measure the customer journey to influence customer consideration and acquisition drives profitability. Leveraging predictive analytics and an omnichannel engagement universe to target key accounts leveraging the customer value framework can drive measurable impact resulting in business growth.

Executive Perspective — Expanding the Possibilities

Join Sharon Scanlon and Ketty Trivedi for a follow-up conversation on today’s key marketing issues and an opportunity to ask questions.

In today’s changing environment, bubblegum, paperclips, scissors, and paper just aren't cutting it. This session is packed with low-cost ways your content can make a big impact.

• Hear how you can collect, organize, design, and deliver content that WOWs your audience
• See how relatively low-cost tools can enhance your digital presence

Walk away with tips you can start using immediately.

As the world has become more digital and a vast amount of consumer information has become available and continues to grow, firms have become better and more efficient at using that data for marketing and targeting purposes. In some cases, this has resulted in very convenient offers and effective targeting, making it simple and relevant for consumers to engage. In other cases, targeting breaches the lines of ethical marketing. In a world where data is the new oil, AI is used for efficient marketing, and consumers’ concerns about their privacy are at all-time high — how do we balance engagement while avoiding encroachment? Our speaker will examine this topic from the industry’s perspective as well as from the consumer lens relying on data from consumer studies.

While COVID-19 forced major changes in how business is conducted, there is considerable interest in understanding the impact of the pandemic on insurers’ efforts to optimize the customer experience. In this session, highlights will be reviewed from LIMRA and BCG research focused on the experience for in-pandemic life buyers. In addition, a panel discussion will be conducted sharing the perspectives of a life carrier and industry consultant on issues related to how companies are changing their customer experience practices and expectations in the current environment, as well as plans for moving forward.

Join us to discuss how agile practices can be applied to a traditional marketing organization to help improve speed, transparency, and adaptability of your marketing campaigns.

Laugh (and cringe) at marketing fails and faux pas in the financial services world. Let’s not forget a bit of bragging about our successes. Leah White will set the stage with her insights and experience in this area before opening for a vibrant round table discussion with your peers.  Share your own stories or ones you’ve witnessed and what you learned from them. You’ll walk away with great learnings, some hilarious stories, and new friends who can empathize with the trickiness of the marketing world.

If this title makes you feel uncomfortable, it should. As 51 percent of the population, women are not “a market,” they are the market. Yet, as marketers, we struggle to reach women and have them partner with us on their financial journey. In this session, you’ll find out what matters to women, the unique challenges they face, and how to communicate in a compelling way that will resonate and inspire them to take action toward achieving financial well-being.

Welcome to Day 2. 

Professor Reed will take us into the cutting-edge logic of the Wharton School to explain the “New Consumer Engagement” paradigm, and how the fusion of tech innovation and marketing are required to deliver on today’s value propositions. He will explore how consumers engage with your brand and how you have to engage with them during and after a pandemic. Moreover, in this era of social justice, brands are under increasing pressure to deliver value and sincerity. Professor Reed will discuss the newest approaches to this paradigm, including data collection methods, channel engagement, and message delivery to the community of advocates you are trying to build.

This session will help you design, plan and execute a virtual event utilizing insights from an industry expert.  Dimensional Fund Advisors will share virtual best practices, tips, ideas and marketing levers to ensure your virtual events are engaging from pre-event to post.  You will also learn how Prudential Annuities leveraged Dimensional’ s expertise to host events with sales and distribution and the success achieved.

The economic dislocation from the COVID pandemic threatens the financial security of millions of consumers.  Understanding what makes a valuable, effective financial wellness program is more important than ever. This session will look at financial wellness programs from the perspective of both plans sponsors and leading providers of wellness solutions. They will update marketers on trends in financial wellness programs, discuss what differentiates programs, and what engagement and education strategies are most effective in marketing this important benefit.  

Over the past five years, Symetra has transitioned from a product-driven company to a customer- and tech-centric organization focused on the evolving expectations of an increasingly diverse customer base. Learn how cross-functional teams within IT, product development, and marketing launched this journey, with customer-first product design, a services mindset, and customer satisfaction and empowerment becoming primary drivers across the organization.

Today’s targets are hard to reach — especially in financial services. Hear about the concepts that are important in data science and how MassMutual and other companies use it and predictive modeling to break through to their audience and drive conversions. Discover strategies that work for driving clients through a  customer journey, learn how to leverage data science to segment and model for financial products and understand how predictive modeling can create positive financial behavior with consumers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the focus from employers emphasizing benefits as a tool to attract and retain talent to becoming a more compassionate and flexible employer that supports a safe and productive workplace. How does this impact the workplace benefits landscape? Based on LIMRA research and The Hartford’s comprehensive Future of Benefits Study of employers and employees, this session will explore the shift in perception that has taken place among employers and employees regarding their benefits preferences.

Do your multi-cultural marketing efforts hit the mark? One-size-fits-all marketing no longer exists in a world that’s constantly evolving. But it can be a challenge to incorporate a multicultural marketing strategy that also seems natural and authentic to the audience. With the help of some fellow marketers, we’ll address how to strike the right balance and other key things you need to know about successfully marketing to diverse audiences. Bring your questions and current challenges for a dynamic discussion!

The “generative creative process” is a powerful method for creating the results you want in your work and in your life. Bodine Balasco will reveal the breakthrough principle upon which this process is based, along with a four-part structure for using this approach. Come discover how to drive innovative thinking, generate new possibilities you haven't conceived of before, and develop sustainable energy to fuel your actions through to completion — even when faced with limiting conditions. 

Bodine is also an award-winning entertainer, so be prepared to have fun while you learn how to increase your capacity and achieve the results you really want!