LIFE INSURANCE:
Developing a Distinct Market Presence

Client Situation

Our client, a leading Canadian life insurance company, was about to find itself in an increasingly volatile and competitive industry. Pending deregulation of the life insurance market would allow banks and mutual fund companies to sell life insurance, opening the typically stable, low growth industry up to an influx of new competitors. Several of our client's largest competitors were already gearing up to meet this new competitive threat, and our client wanted to understand whether and how they should invest in building a corporate brand in an industry in which companies have historically under-invested in image building. The company had historically left marketing in the hands of the agents who sold their life insurance products, so they were looking to Market2Customer^® (M2C^®) to help them build, implement, and activate a new differentiated brand both internally and in the marketplace.

Results

M2C helped the client develop a refined value proposition and a distinct brand position, oversaw a name change, and directed the implementation and activation of the new brand. Our client refocused their efforts around their value proposition and used this to drive business decisions and improve the customer experience in the areas that mattered most. Without significant spending on advertising, our client experienced a dramatic increase in target customer awareness and preference.

The Intervention

Our patented BrandMonitor^® diagnostic tool was used to help the client determine whether they should invest in their brand, and to develop strong hypotheses about what the client's brand should stand for. Competitive benchmarking revealed that insurance companies had begun aggressive advertising spending, indicating a trend toward brand building. A conjoint study to measure the value of a trusted brand name relative to other key purchase criteria revealed that a company's image and brand play a major role in the customer's decision-making process. Lastly, quantitative and qualitative research with customers and agents revealed that insurance industry differentiation and overall brand strength were low, thereby revealing many possibilities for building a distinct and meaningful brand position. While insurance companies in general were seen as "big, faceless, bureaucratic companies," the client's brand was especially weak compared to competitors, and customers were confused about what the client's core business actually was.

Having made the decision to invest in a new brand, we applied the Brand Intent^® framework to help the client develop a brand positioning and value proposition that would differentiate them in the marketplace. Consumer interviews using the MIND (Meaning through Image and Narrative Discovery) technique were conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of what customers want from their interactions with the agent and the company. The research revealed that most insurance companies are positioned similarly, in that they offer peace of mind, security, and freedom as a result of owning the insurance products, but few companies, if any, positioned themselves in terms of the actual buying experience. For example, customers felt talked down to, not listened to, and they felt that insurance agents were confusing, and sometimes had a "salesman sleaziness" about them. The MIND process revealed that listening and understanding were critical factors of customer satisfaction in the insurance industry. Additionally, the research indicated that the client's current name caused confusion among employees and customers and did not allow for the type of differentiation they had hoped for. With these insights in mind, M2C worked with the client to develop a new brand positioning and logo, as well as oversee a company name change.

With the new brand, logo, and company name in place, M2C assisted the client in developing a plan for the implementation of the new brand both internally and externally. This included 1) an assessment of the client's ability to deliver on the brand promise by functional area, and a plan for building necessary capabilities, 2) an accountability framework to ensure consistent brand delivery and maximization of value derived from the brand investment, and 3) a metric and measurement effort to help evaluate the client's brand delivery performance and to allow a more efficient allocation of brand resources to high priority areas. Specific initiatives included the development of a new set of ad templates to give the agents greater choice, new agent training to focus on listening skills, a change in hiring and incentive structure, and simplified marketing and sales collateral. Not only did the client experience a 322% increase in brand preference, but its successful transformation of the customer experience also brought several awards in innovation, and a Cassie Award, a Canadian Advertising award given on the basis of proven business results. In the words of the client's CEO "Our brand is a significant contributor to our success: both in terms of growth of our business, and in the development of a distinct market presence."

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