Q&A with Brad Barnett, Vice President, Enterprise Marketing, Nationwide

John Paquin Celebrity spokespeople seem to come and go but you have a successful 10 yearlong relationship with Peyton Manning To what do you attribute this longevity and what do you see as the longterm value of the relationship How did you select Peyton in the first placeBrad Barnett In 2014 we decided that the NFL was the right platform to accelerate our brand It offered scale the most diverse fanbase in all of sports overindexed with partners who sell our products and offered relationshipbuilding opportunities for stronger B2B marketing efforts that are important in our businessThe NFL became a strategic investment across advertising media and sponsorships to drive greater impact for and alignment around our brand From an advertising perspective we sought a spokesperson who would be contextually relevant to the platform could appeal to the masses and whose values matched ours and it didn39t take us long to narrow our focus down to Peyton Manning His overall relevanceequity scores the way he handled himself on and off the field the professionalism he brought to every conversation and overall likeability made him a great fit After 10 years we still view Peyton as an impactful strategic brand partnerPaquin Shifting gears Nationwide39s jingle is an earworm if there ever was one It39s been around since 1967 and is front and center in your marketing efforts not just an obligatory sting at the end Yet some agency creatives often try to relegate these equities to an afterthought in service of quotgreater creativityquot Has this debate come up internally or with your partner agenciesBarnett We view having an iconic jingle as a strategic branding asset in a marketing world where brands are fighting for attention Consumers can become unengaged in commercial breaks and using music has proven to drive increased attention brand linkage and overall stopping power When it39s authentic to the brand and highly effective when used there are no internal debates More than anything the jingle is not just seven notes it39s our brand promisePaquin We noted that Nationwide is on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For 2023 list which is no small thing Can you talk about your company culture and how you think it impacts the businessBarnett Over the past three years Nationwide has grown topline performance by nearly 14B surpassing 60B in 2023 When a company is seeing that kind of success it has to be doing several things right A key contributor to these results is highly engaged associates employees Ours is a company where the word quotculturequot means something opportunities for advancement missiondriven work prioritizing the customer a sense of belonging a familylike atmosphere a hybrid work environmentamp8230 the list goes on When you can bottle that it is an accelerant that drives substantive business results and leads to people wanting to work here and stay for a long timePaquin And finally any advice for our smaller members who may have more modest budgets given your own success building amazing longterm equity in the Nationwide brandBarnett Budgets are all relative based on your category Nationwide is a modest spender in a very competitive category with significant media investment On the insurance side we are outspent 1520x depending on the competitor So even in our world we must relentlessly search for differentiation and space where we can stand out to audiences and communicate key messages While the investment strategy is critical brands must earn equity over timeThat said I realize our budget is not small compared to many other brands I39ve had the experience of working in RampampD where you are vying for small dollars to prototype build and search for productmarket fit In those instances we live by the advice of Y Combinator39s Paul Graham do things that don39t scale We39re searching for lowcost nonscalable ways to get users to try our products with the goal of iteration and product development We also deploy traction marketing strategies to start with bullseye tactics we know acquire users most efficiently and then rapidly improve performance in those channels and expand outwards Having a strong brand does dramatically improve the performance of earlystage products but for lesserknown brands focus on building an incredible product first and a brand secondAt some point in a brand39s journey you must ultimately tackle the challenge of broad distribution Most DTC brands eventually need to be a merchant on Amazon or a get on a shelf at Walmart and we are no different for us that39s large financial firms brokers and agents The cost of acquisition and overall unit economics dramatically improve when you can successfully do this It39s a strategic advantage to have this accessible to earlystage products in your core businessesClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Q&A with Brad Barnett, Vice President, Enterprise Marketing, Nationwide

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Q&A with Brad Barnett, Vice President, Enterprise Marketing, Nationwide

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