Ask The CMO: Andres Barragan On Driving All Of Marketing Through The Lens Of Experience

In today’s emotion driven economy, experiences trump product alone. No longer can brands just stand for the things they sell, but rather must connect with consumers on a more deeply personal level based on who they are and what they stand for. In this environment, everyone is a customer, be they consumer or employee and consequently, brands need to be built top down and bottom up with a sharp focus on customer-centricity.

For my latest Ask the CMO column, a series dedicated to analyzing the latest trends and disruptions in the marketing landscape, I had the pleasure of speaking with Andres Barragan, Chief Experience Officer of Group 1001. Andres is a marketing veteran with years of experience at leading brands such as Procter & Gamble, Citibank and Fidelity. We spoke about everything from building the Group 1001 set of brands to why he built his entire marketing organization around the notion of experience. Following is a recap of our conversation:

 Billee Howard: How do you see the changing face of marketing?

 Andres Barragan: Clearly there are changes affecting all aspects of marketing, and I see two distinct areas. First, there are changes in technology and the capabilities that companies have at their disposal to build into their offerings not only in terms of features and functionality but in terms of things such as timeliness of delivery and service.

Second, there are changes in how consumers are consuming content. Consumers are much more informed and no longer as open to being sold. They're also not as open to consuming advertising, even if they were in the past.

Group1001 operates in the financial services space, which is a prime example of how these two shifts in marketing have and continue to play out. The Financial Crisis of 2008 shifted consumer attitudes to demand more transparency from their brands.  This shift, coupled with changes in how consumers learn and consume information and the evolving landscape in media and technology, means that today’s consumer is more empowered and educated than ever before.  And it goes beyond the just preference for digital and mobile experiences, consumers now demand more simplicity and transparency when engaging with brands.

Brands that embrace this shift and actually make a transformational change will be rewarded.

Howard: How are you responding to that at Group 1001?

Barragan: As a family of insurance companies we see it in two ways. First, we put the customer back at the center of our business.  Our research has shown us that there are underserved markets in the traditional annuity and insurance businesses.  When we dug deeper into the attitudes and beliefs of those people going unserved by traditional annuities and insurance, we saw an opportunity to align our family of brands to focus on specific segments of the markets. We have our traditional brands like Delaware Life which focus on consumers who are engaged in financial matters and like to work with an advisor.  Separately, we are building two new brands, Relay and Gainbridge, based on new insurtech platforms that address the needs of self-directed investors and savers in the market.

Second, we saw an opportunity to align our complementary family of insurance companies under the Group1001 brand and provide the same strategic mission to all.  We wanted to transform our capabilities in a way that allows us to differentiate ourselves in the market place by combining and investing in our best resources and people.

We are actively also putting together a strategy to use technology to deliver personalized products via self-serve digital platforms in a way where there are no hidden rules, no hidden fees and everything is transparent. People want to be able to clearly understand what they're buying and also have seamless access to their money if their needs change –no different than an easy return policy in the retail world.

Howard: How do you feel brand purpose should factor in when building a brand? Inside/outside or both?

Barragan:  Purpose is embedded in everything we do.  Our overarching Group1001 mission is to empower our customers, our industry and the communities we serve.  Our brands, products and service experience reflect this. Group1001 also has a strong commitment to its corporate social responsibility platform.

We believe that education and youth sports have the power to transform lives and communities. For example, we partnered with Fields & Futures and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation to revitalize sports fields in communities across the country, to provide safe and nurturing spaces for young people in the communities we serve.

Also, our sports sponsorships provide us additional channels and platforms to extend our brand purpose and CSR activities in the communities we serve. For example, while our signature LPGA sponsorship brings the world’s best female golfers to The Brickyard Golf Course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, we take the opportunity that the four-day tournament, the location and the national spotlight provides us to raise awareness and funds for the Indy Women in Tech Foundation while also bringing over 2,000 local Indianapolis school children to event to experience hands-on STEM activities to spark an interest in tech fields.

Howard: What’s the right mix of creativity + technology? I’ve seen creativity get sacrificed for technology too often lately. What are your thoughts?

Barragan: It’s an equal mix for us.  We are out to transform the industry through technology but also by creating brands that people can trust and love. Both creativity and technology drive our new product roadmap. For example, Relay is the first offering to creatively combine an immediate annuity with cash-back rewards, delivered via a fully-digital service model using modern technology.

I think there's organizational ways to accomplish this. At Group 1001 we work with organizational principles based on scrum and agile. We create self-contained teams that have all the skill sets and decision-making power necessary to bring successful projects to completion, with fast turnaround times.  I've taken that philosophy into account in how I've structured the CMO office. In my opinion, today’s CMO can’t just oversee brand and marketing, because in today’s world the brand is the experience and the experience is the brand. I have expanded the purview of my office to bring technology, product management, brand and Marketing together.  Accordingly, my title is not Chief Marketing Officer, rather, I prefer Chief Experience Officer.

Lastly you also have something that is very important to me which I also have seen throughout my career. Too many times there is a big disconnect between the marketing function and customer service. For me, there can be no separation between customer acquisition and customer service. In my opinion, it is the same thing, prospects should be treated as customers. So that's also something that we have brought together within my team.

Howard: What’s driving brand loyalty today? Thoughts on brand loyalty programs?

Barragan: Consumers are brand loyal if you are providing them simple, transparent products that deliver value consistently and speak to their beliefs. On the other hand, loyalty is fickle if it’s only driven by promotional tactics.

Understanding how our consumers feel allows us to have brands that stand for something. For example, Relay is a totally new product for people who are smart spenders and planners. We like to think we’ve combined all the financial tools people like and trust in the best possible way – savings, a debit card and cash back rewards. The way it works is you decide how much you want to get on your RELAY VISA card every month, and for how long.  That determines the lump sum you’ll put into your immediate annuity.  Every month you get the amount you requested on your RELAY VISA card, and when you spend it, you earn up to 13% in cash back. The cash back rewards never expire, and unlike a traditional annuity, you can take your money out whenever you want without any penalties.

Consumers want to know what they're buying into and they also want to have a clear way out whenever they want - people want transparency. Those are the foundations and tenets that we're applying to our digital agency propositions that we are launching later in the year.

Howard: How important is emotional intelligence related to the future of brand success and any insights on how to achieve it?

Barragan: We know that connecting with consumers both on an attitudinal and emotional level is key to our future growth.  We spoke about creating a transparent and trustworthy environment where people can come and do business with us, but I would like to provide you one more example.  As I mentioned before, we are launching our new digital insurance agency, Gainbridge, later this year.

Gainbridge will offer high-yield, no non-sense annuities for the self-directed investor that prefers to buy annuities through digital channels. But we still want to engage in a two-way conversation with consumers to let them decide first, if Gainbridge products are a good fit for their financial portfolio, and second, let them “build” their own annuity.  By answering a few questions, we will be able to tell them if we think our products are a good fit, or conversely, that we don't think our products are great for them, and also allow them to customize the product to meet their needs. That's the gigantic shift, particularly in the insurance market, that we have been discussing. We want to move away from “convincing and selling annuities” to establishing trust and providing an emotional connection with our consumers.

Howard: How does your IndyCar sponsorship fit into all we have discussed?

Barragan: Group1001 has a long-term agreement with Andretti Autosport to sponsor Zach Veach’s #26 car in the Verizon IndyCar series.  For Group1001, Zach is the epitome of what we look for in a brand ambassador. Our business is built on hard work, conquering obstacles, empowerment and giving back, and Zach embodies that for us. On one hand, he’s very driven to succeed, and on the other, he’s looking to give back in every way possible. What better person to represent our brand?