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Conference session

Mutuality: Creating sustainable, purpose-driven companies of the future

ICMIF Americas Digital Conference 2021

Showcase of two ICMIF members in their journey to transform their organisations to create purpose-driven and customer-centric insurance companies for the future, leveraging a competitive advantage through their mutual/cooperative values and mission, and commitment to have a positive impact on society.

In 2020, Thrivent launched a new brand to reflect its fundamental purpose and promise to clients as part of its ongoing transformation as an organisation. The new brand is intended to fuel growth and relevance among a new generation of clients and show how Thrivent is a truly unique financial services organisation.

Thrivent believes its customers want to work with an organisation who see “money as a tool, not a goal”; a company with financial expertise whose customers sees their financial picture in one place; and underpinned by a modern digital-first experience.

The organisation set out to deliver this rebrand by looking at its purpose, promise and principles. This, in turn, drove the development of the new brand experience as a key component of its transformation: to create a purpose-driven company for future generations, helping people achieve financial clarity.

The repositioning of Thrivent’s brand was around a targeted customer base to serve the younger generation, who saw Thrivent more as a charity than a financial service organisation. The shared purpose and values of Thrivent and its (future) clients was a key piece to building its new brand. This was combined with a move towards being customer-centric, and understanding the clients’ needs rather than focusing primarily on products.

A further piece of the brand was Thrivent’s new ‘unifying idea’ (rather than a tagline): Thrive with purpose, a play on its name that succinctly reinforces what the brand stands for and the idea that customers can create their own definition of purpose as they engage with the organisation in the future.

Río Uruguay Seguros (RUS) is implementing a cultural change towards a new organisational model: deepening its cooperative identity, re-evolving its concept of CSR and turning it into a sustainability strategy that allows it to grow in the Argentine market.

Its cooperative values, which include (gender) equity, allows for greater productivity within the company and new business opportunities through the design of innovative, inclusive insurance products.

RUS began to rethink its CSR policy to include sustainability, designing flexible products to put the customer at the heart with a real focus on improving their quality of life (for example, road safety and behavioural change for customers to avoid car accidents and hospitalisation).

Democratising access to insurance for everyone is fundamentally important to RUS. For certain demographics across Argentina, people had needs that were being unprovided for by the insurance sector. RUS took an empathetic approach and began working with local authorities and communities to provide inclusive insurance, of which there are now five outlets with different coverages in low-income neighbourhoods.

RUS have also addressed the topic of gender equality, focussing on females with the product “RUS Salud Fem” which caters for their biological needs. The product is also being transferred into a microinsurance product which can be purchased at any time at an affordable price.

It also launched a unique new insurance cover that will allow access to comprehensive health services for transgender people in Argentina, mainly during the transition process. Further work on transgender issues include sponsoring athletes, scholarships and training for the community, as well as fair gender representation in company meetings.

Session speakers:

  • Lisa Flanary, Chief Growth Officer, Thrivent, (USA)
  • Belén Gómez, Member of the Executive Board and U-RUS Coordinator, Río Uruguay Seguros (Argentina)
  • Ben Telfer, Vice-President, Business Intelligence, ICMIF, moderator

More information

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