John Hancock Financial Services, Boston, is undertaking a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign that highlights its transformation since Manulife Financial Corp., Toronto, acquired it in April 2004.
The campaign, "The Future Is Yours," unwraps the company's first new brand strategy in a decade, company officials point out.
The new approach is the result of a broad internal review by MassMutual of the Hancock brand, based on Hancock's conversion from a firm that primarily sold insurance products to one that offers a broad selection of financial lines, says Donna Driscoll, senior vice president of brand management and corporate communications for Hancock.
Consumer research convinced Manulife it needed to take advantage of the considerable brand recognition for the John Hancock product line, she says.
"We began to realize we needed to revitalize and develop a platform that expresses more accurately who we are and that we are balanced between investments and insurance," says Driscoll. "'The Future Is Yours' is more than a tag line; it's a brand platform, because we use it inside as well as externally to convey who we are as a company."
The intent is to emphasize the company as "optimistic, innovative and contemporary," Driscoll says.
The ad campaign addresses the budding financial needs of the baby-boomer-plus market–40-to-70-year-olds looking for ways to manage their assets, Driscoll says. It emphasizes 401(k) plans, annuities, long term care insurance and mutual funds as well as life insurance.
The message positions Hancock as a company that enables investors in that age group to accomplish their life goals.
