It’s no secret that the environment for insurance marketing professionals has been challenging. First, there was COVID and the dislocation that it caused to many marketing teams. Second, came navigating the return to the office and the hybrid or remote work issue. Third, the hard market resulted in many insurance companies having to tighten underwriting or cease writing new business only to now want to encourage their distribution channel to start sending applications their way. It falls to the marketing pros to try to convince agents and brokers to come back. And lest we forget, there is the elephant in the room: “AI is coming for my job.”
Against this backdrop, industry chief marketing officers (CMOs) attended “IMCA Ignite 2024” – the annual gathering for senior insurance professionals to discuss these issues and share how they are dealing with the challenges. IMCA (the Insurance Marketing & Communications Association) has its roots going back to 1923, when the focus was advertising.
The conference kicked off with a general session by Beth Z. (Beth Ziesenis) on “AI’s Biggest Questions, Myths and Mysteries.” She presented a number of thought-provoking examples using images, sound and video of the evolving capabilities that AI can bring. Although it’s not quite there yet regarding content capabilities, the dizzying pace of AI clearly shows that it’s better to embrace it than complain about it as continues to evolve.
Change consultant Eric Ummel shared his vast corporate experience regarding managing change in a constantly changing industry. He provided a sound framework on how to deal with associated challenges.
There were several presentations that highlighted the creativity of IMCA members’ marketing chops and demonstrated that much can be achieved without an exorbitant expenditure. Most impressive were the examples of verifiable ROI. The Showcase Awards submissions provide many impressive examples of focused creative offerings.
The Free Partners presentation lasered in on the key drivers for growth — trust and transparency — that are essential to a company’s brand as well as the positioning opportunities citing several noteworthy client campaigns. And then there were the breakout sessions covering relevant topics that marketers have to deal with such as ADA compliance, earning customer trust with content, the four essential ingredients to have your campaigns stand out, and the Age of AI.
Harnessing the power of news media to boost your brand’s authority was Amy Power’s topic. She provided great insights during the Q&A session that indicated how powerful PR is to marketers and how the value of PR is multiples of “earned media.”
The breakout sessions were extremely well received and afforded the attendees the opportunity to share their workplace challenges and hear from peers how they are dealing with similar issues in their organizations. It’s amazing how to hear how they juggle so many priorities that are critical to their company’s distribution success.
Last but not least, it was great to see long-time friend Beth Montgomery, VP Company Relations at IIABA (the Big “I”), be recognized with the IMCA Icon Award for her industry stewardship in bringing industry people together and for her vast contributions.