Brad Barnett of Nationwide on Strategic Branding
Brad Barnett is VP of enterprise marketing at Nationwide. Barnett will be a speaker at the ANA Brand Masters Conference, April 15 to17 in Carlsbad, California. ANA senior director of brand and media John Paquin recently sat down with Barnett for a pre-conference interview where they discussed having an iconic jingle, strategic partnerships, and utilizing budget.
Check out the interview with Barnett below.
Celebrity spokespeople come and go (wait you can sing that one too, I just tried it!). You have such a long relationship with Peyton Manning. I'm struggling to think of another spokesperson that's been around so long. What do you attribute that longevity to, and what do you see as the long-term value of that relationship? How did you arrive at Peyton in the first place?
In 2014, we intentionally made a choice that the NFL was the right platform to accelerate our brand. It offered scale, the most diverse fanbase in all of sports, over-indexed with partners who sell our products, and offered relationship-building opportunities for stronger B2B marketing efforts that are important in our business.
The NFL became a strategic investment across advertising, media and sponsorships to drive greater impact for our brand and direct assets in an aligned manner. From an advertising perspective, we desired a spokesperson who would be contextually relevant to the platform, could appeal to the masses, and whose values matched ours; it didn't take us long to narrow our focus on Peyton Manning. His overall relevance/equity scores, the way he handled himself on and off the field, the professionalism he brought to every conversation, and overall likeability across fans made for a great fit for both groups.
2024 marks the 10-year anniversary of our relationship with Peyton and we still view him as an impactful strategic partner for our brand.
Speaking of singing, that's an earworm if there ever was one. It's been around since 1967, and front and center in your marketing efforts for so many years, not just an obligatory sting at the end. Yet some agency creatives often try to relegate these equities to an afterthought, in service of "greater creativity." Has this debate come up internally or with your partner agencies in terms of balance of messaging?
We view having an iconic jingle as a strategic branding asset in a marketing world where brands are fighting for attention. Our strategic decision to incorporate music into the creative, connected to our jingle, has proven to drive increased attention, linkage and overall stopping power where consumers can become unengaged in commercial breaks. When it's authentic to the brand, and highly effective when used, there aren't debates internally. More than anything, the jingle is not just 7 notes, it's our brand's promise.
Brad Paisley is a great foil and keeps things really fresh; they have great chemistry! Coming up with ideas like that must be really fun. Can you share some of that with us? Are there any interesting future partners for Peyton?
You will see a resurgence in creative development with Peyton this year and beyond as we continue to strategically focus on the NFL across our brand assets. The NFL calendar is robust, and many of the offseason NFL events (e.g., Draft, Combine) perform better than many in-season events in other sports.
The NFL Draft in particular will be a key moment in the media calendar for us as we roll out Draft-themed creative featuring Peyton; I am excited to share a preview of the work at this year's ANA Brand Masters Conference. Our creative team is incredibly talented, and their skills are on display again with the new work with Peyton coming out this year.
I know that Nationwide has had a transformative impact on downtown Columbus, both in a strong headquarters presence and local employment, and of course helping Columbus become a "major league city." Sports offers great synergy with your national programs. How do your local efforts in the community impact or inform your greater marketing efforts?
Without a doubt, the City of Columbus would not be what it is without the vision and investment from Nationwide over many decades. As Nationwide has grown, so too has Columbus. Our company has helped transformed the city where our Headquarters are located into a top 10 emerging city in the U.S. Investment in sports is one aspect, but Nationwide's real estate arm also spear-headed the master planning and development of the Arena District surrounding our headquarters including the office buildings, apartments, condominiums, hotels, restaurants, and sports and entertainment venues to create a thriving city experience.
From a sports perspective, we are highly engaged in the city of Columbus. We have leaders who sit on the Sports Commission whose mission is to bring sports events, fans and participants to the city. They've been highly successful in doing this over the past 20 years. From a sports marketing standpoint, we're the naming rights sponsor for Nationwide Arena (home of the Columbus Blue Jackets), jersey sponsor for the Columbus Crew (MLS) and Columbus Fury (pro Women's Volleyball), and official sponsors of the Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) and Columbus Clippers (MiLB).
Switching gears a bit, Nationwide is proudly one of Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For 2023, which is no small thing! I'm sure our members would love to hear more about that. What do you attribute that to, and how do you think that impacts your business, culture, and customer-facing efforts?
Over the past three years, Nationwide has grown topline performance by nearly $14 billion, surpassing $60 billion in 2023. When a company is having success like that, there are several things it's doing right. A key contributor to those results are highly engaged employees (what we call associates). This is a company where the word "culture" means something – opportunities for advancement, mission-driven work, prioritizing the customer, a sense of belonging, family-like atmosphere, hybrid work environment, the list goes on. When you bottle that up, it is an accelerant to driving substantive business results and leads to people wanting to work here (and work here for a long time).
Nationwide also clearly takes diversity very seriously, earning a 100 percent rating each year on the Corporate Equality Index; congratulations for that as well. Yet the industry is facing some headwinds when it comes to our commitment to this important cause. Any advice for other marketers that might be re-thinking their own commitment?
Our inclusive culture, policies and benefits earned us a 100 percent score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2023 to 2024 Corporate Equality Index – our 20th consecutive year to earn 100 percent.
This has always been in the DNA of Nationwide and a key component of our company culture...and will not change. This starts at the top of the house and permeates throughout all levels. For our associates, it's helped lead to a highly engaged workplace, and one where everyone can thrive.
From a marketing perspective, we continue to invest in key partnerships in this space, such as the National Urban League, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), Latina Style, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), National Fair Housing, US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Black Enterprise and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation.
And finally, any advice for our smaller members who may have more modest budgets, given your own success in building an amazing long-term equity in the Nationwide brand?
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 15 to 20 times depending on the competitor. So even in our world, we must relentlessly search for differentiation and space where we can be stand out to audiences and communicate key messages. While the investment strategy is critical, brands must earn equity over time.
That said, I realize our budget is not small to other brands. I've had the experience of working in R&D, where you are vying for small dollars to prototype, build and search for product-market fit. In those instances, we live by the advice of Y Combinator's Paul Graham – do things that don't scale. We're searching for low-cost, non-scalable, 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 performance of early-stage products, but for lesser-known brands, focus on building an incredible product first and a brand second.
At some point in a brand's journey, you must tackle the challenge of distribution at scale. 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 that's large financial firms, brokers, and agents). The cost of acquisition and overall unit economics dramatically improve when you can successfully do this. It's a strategic advantage to have this accessible to early-stage products in your core businesses.
The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.
A shorter version of this piece was originally published at MediaVillage.
John Paquin is senior director of brand and media at ANA.