Financial services professionals in all areas of marketing – product, consumer, producer, digital, and strategy – as well as research and consumer insights and communications, advertising, and branding.
Highlights
There’s no denying 2020 was a difficult year; we all came out of it changed as marketers and as people. The challenges we faced required us to pivot, be nimble, and adjust our strategies. At the same time, it offered new and expanded possibilities to connect, to embrace technology, and to reframe the intrinsic value of our industry.
In marketing, we don’t shy away from change, be it learning a new technology or approaching a customer experience in a new way. We are used to rapid evolution and shifting perspectives in our roles – so this is our opportunity to lead the financial services industry in using our messaging, strategy, and engagement to expand our offerings and our approach.
LIMRA’s 2021 Marketing Conference will be completely virtual, and our program will reflect the evolving customer-centric market and the needs of our industry marketers. Our focus areas include social media, digital initiatives, consumer insights, customer experience, marketing best practices, and strategy.
Join us as we come together as financial services professionals focused on marketing. We’ll feature sessions that uncover what’s next for our industry, identify tomorrow’s potential, and focus on expanding the possibilities!
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience and Producer Solutions, Lincoln Financial Group
Sharon Scanlon is the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience (CX) and Producer Solutions at Lincoln Financial Group. In this role, she leads a team of nearly 300 professionals focused on delivering a superior customer experience through innovation and a differentiated service model. Scanlon serves as the Chief Marketing Officer for Workplace Solutions and is Head of CX, which encompasses two of Lincoln Financial Group’s core businesses — Retirement Plan Services and Group Benefits. In addition, Scanlon oversees CX operations for Life Insurance, Annuity, and Producer Solutions, and leads the operational teams that support producer onboarding, licensing, appointment, compensation, and selling agreements for Life and Annuity. Scanlon joined Lincoln in 2010 and has more than 30 years of financial services and employee benefits experience.
Chief Marketing Officer, Prudential Group Insurance
Ketty Trivedi is Chief Marketing Officer at Prudential Group Insurance, a business unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. As Chief Marketing Officer, at Prudential Group Insurance, Ketty is responsible for strategic marketing, planning, process optimization, enrollment & customer engagement across all business segments. Ketty has 20 years of experience in the Financial Services industry. She joined Prudential in 2007 and has held several positions in the organization, involving Strategy & Orchestration, Institutional Marketing, Voluntary Marketing, Enrollment and Customer Engagement and Financial Wellness Customer Engagement. She has led several Cross-Business Initiatives across Prudential involving new product and capability launches with the Annuities and Individual Life Insurance business.
Whitney M. Young Jr., Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Co-Founder of Persona Partners
Americus Reed II is a Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School , where he specializes in studies on brand equity and identity driven marketing – the study of creating and fostering “brand communities” that transcend the utilitarian aspects of products; connect to deep levels of emotional and social affiliation, and cultivate lifelong loyalty with consumers. Professor Reed brings 25 years of research, teaching and consulting experience in leveraging deep social psychological analysis on the complexity of how a person, organization, brand, or service creates self-expression and how this interfaces with various domains of business. He has worked with numerous fortune 100 organizations, including Estee Lauder, Google, Pearson, Microsoft, and Disney. When he’s not teaching, Professor Reed is a part-time entrepreneur and full-time fitness enthusiast, and co-founded Persona Partners, a consulting firm that focuses on strategies to create “Identity Loyalty”.
Researcher, Passionate Communicator... and Comedy Magician
Bodine Balasco is both a renowned speaker and entertainer. His path as a speaker began as a researcher and passionate communicator who loves discovering and sharing wisdom and strategies that help people reach their goals – in both their work and personal lives. In his early career, Bodine was also fascinated with the art of “sleight of hand” magic. He pursued this passion to become a unique entertainer. During this time, Bodine was nominated for Best Sleight-of-hand Magician of the Year and Best Comedy Magician of the Year. Today, Bodine combines both skills sets as a motivational business speaker, where he has been named one of the Top 21 Speakers for the 21st Century. His academic training, multifaceted background, and years of research have given him extraordinary knowledge of human behavior and human achievement.
KATIE BARTLING, Moderator Vice President, Marketing & Customer Experience Sammons Financial Group
Sharon Scanlon
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience and Producer Solutions, Lincoln Financial Group
Ketty Trivedi
Chief Marketing Officer, Prudential Group Insurance
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.
DAN GRIESEMER Marketing Portfolio Director OneAmerica
MICHELLE RAHTZ Assistant Vice President, Distribution Marketing and Communication Ohio National
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.
JOHN PROANO, Moderator Director, Participant Engagement & Enrollment Prudential Group Insurance
ALEX DE FURSAC GASH Senior Director, Analyst Gartner
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.
ANDREA CLARK Assistant Vice President, Customer Experience Strategy, Marketing & Digital COE Western and Southern
ROB SIMS Managing Director and Partner Boston Consulting Group
TODD SILVERHART, Ph.D., LLIF Corporate Vice President and Director of Research Quality & Performance LIMRA
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.
MELISSA YORK, Moderator Marketing Specialist, Annuities The Standard
AYUSH MAXWELL MASSEY Assistant Vice President, Client Engagement Delivery and Sales Enablement Sun Life Financial
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.
Leah White, Director of Marketing, Modern Woodmen of America
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.
Whitney M. Young Jr., Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Co-Founder of Persona Partners
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.
ALISON SALKA, Ph.D., Moderator Senior Vice President and Director of Research LIMRA
JOHN PROANO Director, Participant Engagement & Enrollment Prudential Group Insurance
WHITNEY QUEEN President Mentoro
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.
PASHEA BENTON Head of Customer Relationship Management MassMutual
ART CALAMARI Vice President, National Accounts Taylor National Accounts KEN ORR President and CEO Taylor Marketing, Data & Analytics, Inc.
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.
VIVIAN ELBA, Moderator Assistant Director Marketing Group Benefits The Hartford
PAT LEARY Corporate VP, Workplace Benefits Research LIMRA
LAURA MARZI CMO, Group Benefits The Hartford
HOPE MCMANUS Director, Market Research Analytics The Hartford
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.
JENNY HALL, Moderator Director, Field Marketing Strategy, Marketing and Communications Penn Mutual Life
GRAYDON HARDER, Moderator Marketing Leader, Advisor Channel Enterprise Marketing Securian Financial Group
DAN HARR Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Specialist/ERGs Management Mutual of Omaha ANDREA JUETT Sr. Mgr. – National Diversity & Inclusion Equitable Advisors
ESTELLE BLOCKOMS, MSM, CLF Life Distribution Director American Family Life
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!
Researcher, Passionate Communicator... and Comedy Magician
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!
3:40 pm
Adjournment
Registration
The conference program is available on-demand through Friday, July 2. Receive 20% off when you register for on-demand access!
Member registration fee: $595
Non-member registration fee: $895
Group Registration Discount:
Take advantage of our group rates to ensure your team’s knowledge stays relevant and up-to-date amid the changing trends and directions in the industry.
We are pleased to offer two group registration options that you can secure by contacting customer.service@limra.com.
5-9 - Registrants from the same company will receive a $75 discount per person when using the quantity discount promo code provided.
10+ - Companies may purchase 10 or more registrations and receive a 20% discount off the total registration fee. Single payment is required along with the total number of registrants. We will provide a special company link/code for the your organization to distribute to the group.
Note: Discounts may not be combined with any other discount offer. We cannot combine existing individual registrations into group registrations.
Substitution Policy
Substitutions of registrations are permitted up to 3 days prior to the virtual event start date by submitting a written request to customer.service@limra.com. The individual submitting the substitution request is responsible for all financial obligations (any balance due) associated with that substitution.
Cancellation Policy
In the event that a scheduled meeting or event is cancelled by LIMRA for any reason, LIMRA shall refund any conference registration fees that have been paid by the registrant. Under no circumstances, however, shall LIMRA be liable to the registrant for any other expenses including, but not limited to, airfare and hotel expenses incurred by the registrant.
All cancellations must be received in writing. Email customer.service@limra.com. Cancellations received by May 19, 2021, will be refunded, less a $100 processing fee. There are no refunds after May 19, 2021.