Liberty Mutual: 2011 FCS Financial Marketer of the Year

On January 26, we welcomed a sell-out crowd of more than 200 guests to our 6th Annual FCS Financial Marketer of the Year Award Gala luncheon at the New York Yacht Club. The recipient of the 2011 honor, first announced at this year’s FCS Race for Kids, was Liberty Mutual Insurance. The luncheon’s guest of honor, representing Liberty Mutual, was Paul Alexander, SVP, Communications. He was joined by his wife Evelyne and their college-age children David and Faye. The luncheon was sponsored by CNBC, and the opening reception was sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. The keynote speaker at the luncheon was CNBC’s Bill Griffeth, co-anchor of “Closing Bell.”
As noted by Chris Bacon, an FCS Board Director and one of the co-chairs of the Award Committee, “The Award recognizes a financial services firm whose marketing has driven outstanding business results over the prior year. Liberty Mutual Insurance was recognized for The Responsibility Project, its online content platform, which has more than 700 original videos, essays, and blogs, all exploring what it means to ‘do the right thing.’”

In accepting the Financial Marketer of the Year Award, Paul Alexander gave a 30 minute presentation detailing his firm’s strategy for improving its place in the highly competitive insurance landscape, which ultimately led to the creation of The Responsibility Project. Alexander revealed to the audience that a fundamental marketing truth in the insurance category was that higher unaided awareness leads to higher quote activity which in turn leads to higher business growth. So a fundamental goal would be to increase awareness. Yet, Alexander admitted that a great challenge in the category is that consumers generally don’t want to discuss insurance. At Liberty Mutual, the decision was made that “being invited in beats being locked out,” so the firm sought to leverage the equation of “the media we buy plus the media we create would equal the media we would earn.”

With an ad spend of only $86 million in 2010 – just a little more than one-tenth of GEICO’s $775 million spend – Liberty Mutual realized that the media they created would need to have an exponential impact in order to change its position in the marketplace.

Alexander explained the research undertaken by Liberty Mutual’s agency Hill Holliday. They reviewed the learnings from an examination of the insurance category: the commoditized industry was cluttered with competitors who all outspent Liberty Mutual in marketing dollars, but all failed to earn the trust of their customers. Hill Holliday analyzed the communications styles within the industry, which seemed to be either “adult to child” (condescending) or even “child to child” (think: cavemen and lizards) in nature. They saw this as the opportunity to create a marketing approach that was uniquely “adult to adult.”

The result was the development of Responsibility as the core of Liberty Mutual’s strategy. From its tagline: “Responsibility. What’s your policy?” to its major outreach initiative, The Responsibility Project, Liberty Mutual embraced the concept as its key differentiator in the marketplace. But as Alexander explained, it became more: “Responsibility is celebrating our customers’ responsibility and relentlessly proving our own.’

Alexander provided the FCS audience with clips of the firm’s TV commercials and various anecdotes of the campaign’s success. He also spoke in detail about the many activations of The Responsibility Project – from the web site and its social media components, to its involvement with the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Freedom Riders.” Alexander noted several key points about the Responsibility Project’s role in building business:
1.  It improves brand awareness by keeping Liberty Mutual top of mind when 67% of ‘out-of-market’ consumers don’t want to talk about insurance, and

2.  It strengthens brand engagement by creating an online presence where consumers choose to spend their time
Alexander noted that, as of January 17, the Responsibility Project’s web site had nearly 26 million site visits, with visitors spending more than 130 million minutes engaged with the Liberty Mutual brand.

Congratulations to Paul Alexander, his marketing team, their partners at Hill Holliday, and to Liberty Mutual for the success of its Responsibility Project and for winning the 2011 FCS Financial Marketer of the Year Award.

 

Luncheon Remarks on "Responsibility": Our Year, Our Philanthropy, Our Jobs, Our Anniversary

Here are excerpts from my opening remarks at the FCS Financial Marketer of the Year Gala Luncheon (Thursday, January 26th):
"Today is the biggest luncheon of the year and you already saw the slide show from this year’s Race for Kids,

but we’re busy throughout the year. Just look at everything we did in 2011. We skiied, we played golf, we bowled twice! We gave out books, we gave out awards. We focused on Education, whether through Job Shadow Day or our research presentations and panel discussion held over breakfast or cocktails.

And of course month after month, we welcome leading brands to the Yacht Club for our luncheons. Here are the brands take took to this podium in 2011.

It’s quite a list.

I like to show this wide range of events and activities to remind you all that there are many ways to get involved with the FCS and to make the most of your membership. One way to get involved is to simply get in touch with any of our Board Directors.
...
Most of you first come to know the FCS through our annual Portfolio Awards. You know, that big black tie party in May when we get all dressed up, have a couple of drinks with friends, dance like lunatics… and we actually give out awards too.
Of course, Portfolio is where we present the big check to our three charities. Not including this year’s Race for Kids, we’ve raised more than $1.5 million dollars for Hope & Heroes, Make A Wish, and Downey Side.
It’s wonderful to be able to help these organizations. Earlier this month, up at Stowe, we met three of the families who have been supported our charities, including a 12 year old cancer survivor. Just this week, this boy’s oncologist sent the FCS a very nice email. One line from the email reads: 'Please know that your gift will help children afflicted with cancer and will also help our physicians and scientists find the cure.'
This is why we get involved, right?
...
The FCS now has more than 770 members in our Linked In Group. This is a great online forum for making connections, discussing industry happenings, and sharing information, especially about jobs.
Now I’d like to make a comment about jobs.
We’re going to hear a lot today from Paul Alexander about Responsibility because of Liberty Mutual’s very successful Responsibility Project. Well, thinking about responsibility, I believe that it is the responsibility of the FCS, in focusing on our mission of Community, to help ensure that our members stay employed and make progressive strides in their careers. The Job Bank on our web site and job information on Linked In are just the beginning. To encourage this responsibility, we want to reward those who undertake it. I’d like to reiterate our policy on our Members in Transition. First of all, MITs get to attend all of our events at discounted prices. We’re not looking to make money off of them. We here to help. Furthermore, whenever an FCS member helps another member get a job within the industry, both are entitled to free membership and a free lunch. Yes, there can be a free lunch. The job market will be tight again this year, and nothing could make our organization prouder than to be able to say that we helped our community stay vibrant, well-informed, well-connected, and employed.
This is what the FCS does, and we’ve been doing it since 1967.
Which means of course, that 2012 is our 45th Anniversary year. To celebrate, we’ll do something special at each event this year. Plus we’re launching two special activities.
I’m delighted to announce the creation of the FCS Archives. This year we will be begin recording interviews with long-standing members to create an oral history. We’ll establish an online photo collection and we’ll look to build a library of material from past financial brands. If you’d like to help out and get involved, just give me a call.
We’ll also celebrate our anniversary with a gala event in the fall that will be a Casino Night and Charity Fundraiser. Look for details on that event in the very near future.
...
Thank you all for coming out to today's event, and thank you for getting involved.
This is your FCS, this is your organization, this is your year.

Fireside Forums Ablaze with Compelling Research from FT

One of the highlights of our annual Race for Kids ski weekend is the Fireside Forums, which we host over two days at the Stowe Mountain Lodge.  Bill Wreaks, CEO of The Gramercy Institute, moderates several panel discussions with top execs from leading financial marketers.  This year, Daniel Rothman, the Financial Times Director of Research, Americas, helped set the stage for the Forums by providing the audience with some new research findings.  I asked Daniel to provide a write-up for this blog.  Any questions on the below information can be directed to daniel.rothman@ft.com.


Traditional Media
There is no question there is tremendous buzz and excitement surrounding the explosion of mobile devices (in particular smart phones and tablets) and what it means for financial marketers going forward. However, it is essential that we not forget that traditional media is still vitally important to senior executives and other affluent targets that financial service firms are trying to reach and influence.

According to the World Trade Press report this year, newspapers still reach more people than the internet as a whole; on a typical day about 20% more. Despite the phenomenal growth and adaptability of digital media, in senior business circles, print is still seen as the most reliable source for business and international news.

It is important for marketers to consider the media adoption and level of engagement not just based on the target audience level of seniority, but also where they are located - as all geographies are not equal in their media adoption. The 2011 FT Bank Image Survey asks global investment banking decision makers which media they use to stay informed about development in their industry and about banking in general. The findings revealed that:

• Newspapers are far more important to Asia residents vs. other decision makers residing outside Asia
• Conferences are more important to decision makers residing in the Emerging Markets
• Business Television is more important to Asia residents
• News Websites via Mobile Devices are more important to residents of America and the Emerging Markets.

These examples demonstrate the unique positioning of each media within different markets, and the need to think regional as it relates to media consumption behavior.

Tablets and Mobile Usage
Accord to the IPSOS BE:USA 2011 (Business Elite) survey, 49% of business executives within large companies already own a tablet device. The 2011 FT Global Business Outlook Survey revealed many interesting findings as to how senior executives feel about tablets and their usage behavior. 53% access work email on their tablet; 38% say their tablet is replacing usage of PC/laptops; and 33% watch TV programs/video on their tablets. The FT global executives see their tablets as a work tool in addition to a leisure device.

When looking at global executive usage of mobile devices, 51% do not turn off their device while on holiday/vacation and 49% do not turn it off at night/weekends. This compares to 100% of FCS Race for Kids attendees that never “turn off” their devices via the informal survey of those in attendance at the 2012 Fireside Forum session.

Marketers need to recognize that not every message will resonate on every media platform. Given the dramatic adoption of mobile and tablets, the FT Global Business Outlook Survey asked executives globally to identify what they feel each media is best at communicating to clients, compared with traditional media. Executives told us that smart phones have very low effectiveness at all funnel stages in the communication process - whether at driving brand/company awareness, driving loyalty or prompting the user to take an action. (This could be a reflection of the relative early stage of smart phone advertising, or the level of B2C advertiser adoption vs. B2B). Alternatively, tablets are best at providing detailed information about a company/brand/product, and perform fairly well at influencing perceptions of whether a brand is of high quality/trusted brand, and prompting the user to take an action. The tablet perception is very similar to PC/laptops in its effectiveness by marketing funnel stage, however just not as pronounced in performance effectiveness.

-- Daniel Rothman, daniel.rothman@ft.com

January: Biggest Month of the Year for the FCS

Earlier this month, the FCS held our 13th Annual Race for Kids charity ski weekend at the beautiful Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont. (Yes, there was snow… in fact, there was plenty for our dozens of skiers and snowboarders who raced!) There was also a whole host of people from our industry enjoying a few days with friends and family, clients and colleagues. We welcomed more than 320 guests in all, but that's only one way to measure the success of the event.

As a fundraiser, this year’s Race for Kids is expected to result in another six-figure donation to our three charities: Hope & Heroes, Downey Side, and Make A Wish. The amount will be announced at the FCS Portfolio Awards Gala (May 16th). Part of those funds includes more than $18,000 raised over the weekend through two nights of raffles and both silent and live auctions.

From a business perspective, what makes us most proud of our "Summit in the Snow" is the continued popularity of our two-day Fireside Forums. Moderated and organized by Bill Wreaks, CEO/Chief Analyst of The Gramercy Institute, the discussions addressed key topics for today's marketers:
• Mobile & Tablet Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Global Branding
• Strategic Media
More than 60 people attended each day's Forum. The panelists included:
• Lisa Adams, Allen & Gerritsen
• Gordy Abel, JP Morgan Chase
• Rich Aneser, Lincoln Financial
• Chris Bacon, Morgan Stanley
• Jay Bartlett, Xerox
• Tom Brookbanks, MEC
• David Goodsell, Netixis
• Jon Humphreys, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Michael Lacorazza, TD Ameritrade
• Tim Mickelbrough, Thomson Reuters
• Eric Van den Heuval, The Gate
• Meredith Verdone, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Damon Webber, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
As added value, Daniel Rothman, the FT's Director of Research-Americas, engaged the audience each day in a presentation of his recent findings on consumer behavior and mobile media.

One of the highlights of the weekend was a Saturday performance of The Passing Zone, a two man juggling comedy team. The duo had the 200+ person audience laughing on the edge of their seats as they juggled chain saws and knives and rat-traps! The proceeds from the show were donated to Friends of Stowe Adaptive Sports, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for persons living with a disability residing in Vermont or visiting Stowe Mountain Resort through access to winter sports and recreational activities.

On behalf of the Race for Kids chairs, Tim Hart and Ahmed Yearwood, and their committee, thank you to all who came to Stowe for the FCS’ annual capstone event, that so successfully brings together the three pillars of our mission: Community, Education, and Philanthropy.

The second reason January is our biggest month is the annual FCS Financial Marketer of the Year Gala Luncheon. On the 26th, we’ll present this 6th annual award to Liberty Mutual Insurance. Paul Alexander, Senior Vice President, Communications, will be on hand to accept the trophy. The event, sponsored by CNBC, with an opening reception sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, is expected to sell out again with more than 200 guests filling the famed New York Yacht Club with an energy strong enough to last the whole year. At the luncheon, we’ll welcome CNBC’s Bill Griffeth, co-anchor of “Closing Bell” as the keynote speaker. There will also be several special announcements and free raffles for attendees and FCS members. To reserve your ticket, go to http://www.fcsinteractive.com/. Following the event, I’ll provide more details on the gala with a new blog posting.

BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE...
But just because January will be our biggest month, that doesn't mean the year is over. In fact, we’ve just begun. 2012 is the 45th Anniversary of the Financial Communications Society, and it’s our goal to make it the biggest year ever for the FCS. In addition to our chapter events in New York and Chicago, there will be multiple events in San Francisco, Boston and Toronto. Nearly 40 events are planned for this year, but we can’t do it without you. This is your year to get involved. It doesn’t take a lot of time to help us organize an event or activity, and the rewards are both personally and professionally fulfilling. I invite you to contact me today to learn how you can make the most of your membership!

Year Winds Down as FCS Cranks It Up

Tonight is the FCS’s first Holiday Party in New York in two years, and we’re looking forward to a great event with a great turnout. We’re expecting more than 100 people at The Explorers Club – a wildly unique venue on the Upper East Side. Our supporting sponsor The New York Times has arranged for Patron to be on hand for a “top-shelf” pouring of its tequila, rum and brand new vodka. We’ll be raising money for our three children’s charities with a fun tricky tray raffle, featuring donated prizes from our Board of Directors and other friends of the FCS.

Our calendar year will close out with a very special luncheon, focused, as we do each December, on Strategic Philanthropy. On December 15th, the FCS welcomes Kimberly Davis, President of the JP Morgan Chase Foundation. Kim will talk about the firm’s great success in this field, and how strategic philanthropy fulfills the overall marketing objectives of JP Morgan Chase.

It’s been a whirlwind of a year for the FCS, with a record number of events, spanning from New York to Chicago to San Francisco. On November 1st, we held our inaugural event on the West Coast, with nearly 90 people attending our breakfast on Social Media. A San Francisco based steering committee is now working on plans for multiple events for 2012. The seeds for an official chapter there have been planted!

Meanwhile our Chicago Chapter has enjoyed a fantastic first year, staging event after event of truly compelling content. With major marquee names, like CBOE’s Bill Brodsky and CNBC’s Rick Santelli, and important topics like ETFs and global branding, each event affords the attendees a chance to build a tight-knit community, sharing the latest industry information.

In 2012, we hope to return to Boston, where we staged a successful luncheon in 2010 featuring Putnam Investments; the goal is for two events there next year. Also, plans are under way for our first-ever international event, as the FCS looks to host an event in Toronto. If you’re interested in working on the committee for either Boston or Toronto, please contact me.

In New York, we’re coming off of two great events this fall: In October, we held a Cocktails with Content reception focused on “Mobile 101.” About 100 guests attended the presentation/panel discussion hosted by CNBC.com at famed 30 Rock. The event featured Bryan Van Dyke, Prudential; Michael Lacorazza, TD Ameritrade; John Nitti, Zenith Media; Peter Kafka, All Things D; and Michael Ellison, Corporate Insight. Our November luncheon at the New York Yacht Club welcomed John Owens, head of marketing for ING DIRECT U.S. In all we will have held 16 content-driven events in New York this year, plus Bowling (twice), Golf, Wine Tasting, our legendary Portfolio Awards, and of course, tonight’s Holiday Party.

Next up for major events is our 13th annual FCS Race for Kids. We’re expecting more than 300 attendees again this year, including many corporate, agency and media friends and their families. I hope to see you at the Stowe Mountain Resort, January 5th through 8th. For full details, go to http://www.fcsraceforkids.org/ for details.

As always, I invite you to get involved in all that we do at the FCS. Just email me at kevin@fcsinteractive.com or follow me on Twitter, @FCS_Prez.

The Hits Just Keep on Comin'

I’m writing this on the last day of October – excited by the great momentum of FCS activities over the past two months, and thrilled to be on the eve of the first-ever FCS event on the West Coast. I’m flying to San Francisco to kick-off a breakfast event tomorrow, November 1. And I hope that with this trip, the seeds will be planted for a permanent chapter of the FCS in San Francisco.


But before I get ahead of myself, here’s a quick look back at September and October:


September Luncheon
On 9/21, a sold out crowd of nearly 200 welcomed our guest speaker Jim Speros, CMO of Fidelity Investments. Jim engaged the audience with great insights about the creation and success of Fidelity’s now famous “Turn Here” ad campaign, which moves its green arrow throughout the landscape… both financial and physical.

October Breakfast Club
On 10/4, a standing-room only audience enjoyed a very topical and timely presentation on “The New China.” With a lead-off presentation by John Pomfret, The Washington Post’s Asian Diplomatic Correspondent, the event provided an in-depth look at the cultural challenges of doing business with the superpower. John then joined on a panel discussion with Pablo Rasco, a senior investment strategist with HSBC, and Hongfei Huang, CEO of Insigma U.S. Kopin Tan, a senior editor with Barron’s, moderated the discussion, which provided great insights and information about the new business paradigm with China as an eager partner. While Jose offered a valuable economic perspective, Hongfei and John traded anecdotes about living and working in each other’s native land.

October Luncheon
On 10/20, Vanguard returned to the FCS stage for the first-time in many years, as Bert Dalby held court for an audience of more than 100. With a very informative presentation of the strategic philosophy of the legendary asset management firm, Bert talked about his focus on the all-important financial advisor marketplace.

FCS Charity Bowling Tournament

Since we can’t be all work and no play, the FCS was proud to host another successful Bowling night in Times Square. “Re-Racking” our January inaugural experience, John Derbick led the charge and more than 150 responded, including teams representing 15 sponsors. The camaraderie and laughs alone were worth the price of admission… saying nothing about the fashion statements and fancy shoes.

Now let’s take a look ahead…


Breakfast Club Goes to San Francisco
As I write this, some 85 guests are expected at tomorrow’s inaugural event on the West Coast. Just like June 2010, when we held our first event in Chicago, which ultimately spawned a full-blown, totally engaged chapter, I have high hopes for San Francisco. The topic is Social Media, with an industry perspective provided by Mike Ellison of Corporate Insight, followed by a panel discussion with Schwab’s Lindsay Tiles, BlackRock’s Pete Boland, Union Bank’s Juan Silvera, and Matt Day from SilverFox, who handles the digital work for Franklin Templeton. Well-deserved shout-outs to Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily/investors.com, and The Week for being our inaugural sponsors. Look to this space for a recap of the event.

Cocktails with Content: Mobile 101
Speaking of sponsors, CNBC.com will host our next Cocktail reception at famed 30 Rock, home to the TV series “30 Rock.” Although Liz Lemon won’t be making an appearance, we will learn more about the growing interest and demand for mobile marketing from experts at TD Ameritrade, Zenithmeida, and others. I’m excited to announce that Peter Kafka of All Things Digital will be our moderator.

November Luncheon
Thinking digitally, we’re excited to welcome John Owens to be our November guest speaker at the New York Yacht Club. John heads up marketing for ING DIRECT US.

FCS Holiday Party
Before the year ends, we’ll look to celebrate all that we’ve accomplished at the (sort of) annual FCS Holiday Party. We’re proud to hold our event this year at the Explorer’s Club on the Upper East Side. The date is Tuesday, December 6th… stay tuned for special announcements!

While you’re considering your calendar, now’s the time to get involved in our January events.


FCS Race for Kids
Sure, it feels like months away, but now is the time to make your plans to be a participant in our famed Summit in the Snow. Pack your gear, bring the kids… this will be the biggest and best ever. Go to www.fcsraceforkids.org for details.

Financial Marketer of the Year
The sixth annual prize will be given out in January, but only because YOU made the right nomination by November 15. Don’t delay, send in your ballot today. Marketers can nominate themselves; media folk should think about honoring their best client. Nomination forms can be downloaded at www.fcsinteractive.com. Be proud to pick this year’s winner.

As always, I invite you to get involved in all that we do at the FCS. Just email me at kevin@fcsinteractive.com or follow me on Twitter, @FCS_Prez.

The FCS Gets Down to Business (and Fun) in October

The FCS will stage three events in the month of October, each important in a unique way.

First up is a Tuesday Breakfast Club event called “Chinese Lessons: The Story of The New China.” On October 4th, we’ll host a first-time breakfast at the New York Yacht Club, when we welcome John Pomfret, Asia Diplomatic Correspondent for The Washington Post. Pomfret will present his insights on doing business in China, and give out copies of his book “Chinese Lessons.” He will then join a panel of experts to deepen the discussion. Hongfei Huang, CEO of Insigma USA and Jose Rasco, Senior Investment Strategist, HSBC Private Bank Americas will sit on the panel, to be moderated by Kobin Tan, Senior Editor at Barron’s.

On October 20th, we’re back at the New York Yacht Club for our monthly luncheon, when we'll welcome Bert Dalby of The Vanguard Group. Coupled with the surge of investor interest in ETFs, ongoing market volatility is making the marketing of any investment product a challenge. Dalby’s insights into how Vanguard is setting the course during these turbulent times will prove worthwhile for all financial marketers.

We’ll close out the month with some much needed fun. On October 26th, we’ll host our second FCS Charity Bowling Tournament at Bowlmor Times Square. Repeating the great success we had in January, this event will again pit teams of four in a high-stakes, big laughs competition for valuable prizes, while raising money for our three children’s charities: Hope & Heroes, Make A Wish, and Downey Side Adoption Agency.

Please visit the FCS website to signup for our October breakfast, lunch, and bowling night. To be a sponsor, please contact me and I’ll put you in touch with the chair for each event.