2021 Marketing Conference Agenda

All times listed are in EDT.

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

11:00 am - 11:10 am - Welcome & Opening Remarks

Welcome to the conference.

Katie Bartling - Vice President, Marketing & Customer Experience, Sammons Financial Group
Chair, LIMRA Marketing Committee

11:10 am - 12:30 pm - GENERAL SESSION

Executive Perspective – Expanding the Possibilities

KATIE BARTLING, Moderator
Vice President, Marketing & Customer Experience
Sammons Financial Group

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.

Sharon Scanlon - Senior Vice President, Customer Experience and Producer Solutions, Lincoln Financial Group

Ketty Trivedi - Chief Marketing Officer, Prudential Group Insurance

12:30 pm - 1:00 pm - Break

1:00 pm - 1:50 pm: CONCURRENT SESSIONS

1. Marketing Like MacGuyver: Maximizing Impact on a Minimal Budget

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.

2. Customer Data — Value Add vs. Creepy

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.

3. Moving Forward With Customer Experience for Life Insurance

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.

1:50 pm - 2:10 pm - Break

2:10 pm - 3:00 pm: CONCURRENT SESSIONS

4. Getting Excited About Agile Marketing

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.

5. Marketing Fails & Faux Pas

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.

6. Are Women a Market?

KORBI FAUST, Moderator
Assistant Vice President, Creative Director
Corporate Marketing
Symetra

ANDE FRAZIER, CLU, ChFC, RICP, ChSNC, CDFA
Partner
Clocktower Wealth Management, LLC

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.

Thursday, June 3, 2021

11:00 am - 11:05 am - Welcome

Welcome to Day 2. 

Katie Bartling - Vice President, Marketing & Customer Experience, Sammons Financial Group
Chair, LIMRA Marketing Committee

11:05 am - 12:05 pm - GENERAL SESSION

The New World Order of Marketing

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.

Americus Reed - Whitney M. Young Jr., Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
Co-Founder of Persona Partners

12:05 pm - 12:30 pm - Break

12:30 pm - 1:20 pm: CONCURRENT SESSIONS

7. Surviving to Thriving in a Virtual Environment

JILL RYAN, Moderator
Director, Intermediary Marketing
Prudential Individual Solutions Group

ED EDWIN
Regional Director, Virtual Strategy
Dimensional Fund Advisors

KELLI GUIDO
Marketing Manager
Prudential Annuities

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.

8. Perspectives on Financial Wellness for Marketers

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.  

 

9. Becoming Customer-Centric: Expanding Possibilities for Our Industry

KORBI FAUST, Moderator
Assistant Vice President, Creative Director, Corporate Marketing
Symetra

IRV LATTA
Director of Digital Enablement
Symetra

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.

1:20 pm - 1:30 pm - Break

1:30 pm - 2:20 pm: CONCURRENT SESSIONS

10. Marketing With Data Science — It’s Not Just for Big Companies!

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.

11. The Future of Workplace Benefits – Today’s Lessons, Tomorrow’s Workplace

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.

12. Navigating the Challenges of Inclusive Marketing

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!

2:20 pm - 2:45 pm - Break

2:45 pm - 3:40 pm - GENERAL SESSION

The New Approach to CREATING DESIRED RESULTS: Using the Structure & Power of the Generative Creative Process

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!

Bodine Balasco - Researcher, Passionate Communicator... and Comedy Magician

3:40 pm - Adjournment