Timeless Influencers: Can FPs Increase Brand Awareness?

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Author

Jennifer L. Douglas
Senior Research Director, Member Benefits
LIMRA and LOMA

October 2025

Strong brand awareness can be particularly important in industries like the life insurance industry, where customers are making long-term commitments involving significant financial investments. The benefits of having a well-known brand in this space are many — including reassuring potential customers of a company's stability, enhancing perceived value, and fostering customer loyalty — which contribute to improved marketing efficiency and sustained business growth. That said, not every life insurance company invests heavily in advertising to build brand awareness. Some prioritize distribution strategies that leverage financial professionals to reach and retain customers.

In an update to research conducted in 2014 and 2019, LIMRA explored consumer awareness of life insurance brands in 2025 and the factors driving consumer perceptions, as detailed in the report Top of Mind: Consumer Awareness of Life Insurance Brands. Among the study’s findings, we see clear evidence of the important role distribution partners play in raising brand awareness.

Americans’ ability to name a life insurance company unaided has improved over the past decade, yet remains limited for many consumers; in fact, nearly 1 in 4 adults cannot name a single carrier today, and a majority cannot name three (Figure 1). As you might expect, brand awareness increases with age (up to age 65), wealth, financial knowledge, and one’s confidence in the industry. Consumer groups showing higher brand awareness include men, Black Americans, parents of young children, life insurance owners, and people who work with a financial professional to make at least some of their household’s financial decisions. Notably, half of adults who work with a financial professional can name three companies that sell life insurance, compared to a third of people who manage their finances independently. This effect remains true even when other factors like age, wealth and ownership are taken into account.

Figure 1. Consumers’ Ability to Name Life Insurance Companies

*In 2014, survey respondents were asked to name companies that sell life insurance and/or retirement savings products.

So, what are the most popular life insurance brands in 2025? While there are over 700 life insurance companies in the U.S., a much smaller number dominates consumer mindshare. Survey respondents named 257 unique entities, including some insurance agencies, associations, and nonspecific responses like “Mutual.” Many organizations were mentioned only once, whereas the 10 most frequently named companies, listed below, accounted for 56 percent of all mentions. Since people often don’t distinguish between different types of insurance companies, it’s not surprising to see a few personal line insurers among the best known “life insurance” brands. The pattern of brand recall again hints at the influence of strong distribution networks in the life insurance space. For example, we see companies like Northwestern Mutual and MassMutual rise in the mindshare rankings among adults who work with financial professionals.

Figure 2. Top 10 Leaders in Consumer Mindshare

Top 10 Leaders in Consumer Mindshare
MetLife
State Farm
Prudential
Allstate
New York Life
Liberty Mutual^
Mutual of Omaha
Progressive^
Nationwide
GEICO^

^Company does not manufacture life insurance itself, but places business with other carriers.

When asked why certain brands come to mind, consumers pointed to a few familiar reasons: advertising, ownership and reputation. These same factors topped the list in earlier studies as well. Respondents receiving professional advice were less likely to say advertising was a reason for their recall — 40 percent compared to 46 percent of people who do not work with a financial professional — and more likely to attribute their awareness of a life insurance brand to ownership (41 percent versus 32 percent) and/or the company’s reputation (33 percent versus 27 percent).

When reputation is a reason for brand recall, consumers who work with financial professionals hold slightly more favorable views of life insurance companies. It’s worth noting that the companies mentioned for their reputation were mainly seen in a positive light across the board.

This is especially meaningful given the industry’s ongoing challenge with public perception. The findings should also help ease reputational concerns some carriers may have when working with independent distributors. Without direct oversight of how their brand is represented, companies may feel exposed to potential risks if the customer experience does not align with their standards.

Indeed, the stakes can be high since other LIMRA research finds brand reputation is second only to price and plays a role in reducing price sensitivity when consumers are making decisions about life insurance. More than two in five decision makers prefer products from a 5-star company and are 13 percentage points more likely to choose one over a 4.5-star competitor, according to LIMRA’s report Insights on the Consumer Decision-Making Process for Life Insurance: What Matters Most (for Whom)?.

Despite these concerns, reputational risks do not appear to be influencing brand recall in a negative way. Negative associations were rare, including among those who rely on financial professionals for guidance. So, while the concern is understandable, there is no clear evidence that working with financial professionals harms consumers’ top-of-mind brand perceptions.

In fact, financial professionals seem to enhance brand awareness and likely help to reinforce positive impressions through ongoing relationships with clients. Supporting this, LIMRA finds that adults who work with financial professionals consistently report higher confidence in life insurance companies than those who manage their finances on their own: 35 percent report a high level of confidence, compared to 22 percent in our latest tracking of this trust indicator as reported in LIMRA’s U.S. Consumer Sentiment: July 2025 study.

LIMRA’s findings underscore the value of brand awareness in the life insurance industry and highlight the influential role financial professionals play in shaping consumer perceptions. For companies that prioritize distribution over advertising, leveraging the trust and reach of financial professionals can be a powerful way to enhance consumer awareness and confidence.

About the Study: In January 2025, LIMRA conducted an online survey of 3,001 consumers aged 18 and older. The sample was representative of the general population of U.S. adults based on age, gender, race/ethnicity, household income, employment, and region, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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