“Their lives are just a bit more on hold which means they’re not in an insurance mindset,” said Neil Howe, co-author of “Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation.” “On the other hand, they are long-term planners.”
MetLife, the largest U.S. life insurer, announced a plan in 2012 to focus on growth overseas while cutting expenses in its home market amid shifting consumer preferences.
“The agent channel will always be with us, but consumers are looking for new ways to purchase financial products and especially life insurance,” William Wheeler, the New York-based company’s president of the Americas, said at the time. “They are looking for it at the work site, they are looking for it online, they are looking for it in other non-traditional ways.”
Later that year, the company announced a plan to sell prepaid policies at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. locations in a pitch to less affluent shoppers. Consumers were offered as much as $25,000 of coverage for one year in packages adorned with the image of the comic-strip beagle Snoopy.
Fitness, Veganism
Manulife, which is expanding in third-party asset management and seeking growth in nations such as Myanmar and Indonesia, is adapting to the life insurance slump by lowering some prices and adding new products, Chairman Richard DeWolfe said at the company’s annual general meeting May 1.
New pricing strategies and social media approaches aren’t enough to reverse the decline, said Jeff Fromm, executive vice president at Barkley, the employee-owned advertising agency in Kansas City, Missouri, and co-author of “Marketing to Millennials: Reach the Largest and Most Influential Generation of Consumers Ever.” Companies should consider customers that may be vegans who regularly exercise and are open to wearing technology that tracks their lifestyle, aiding in pricing, Fromm said.