Over the past 12 years with the Gerber Life Insurance Company, its vice president for direct to consumer media and strategy, Megan Sharpe, has seen many changes in both the media landscape and the insurer's corporate ownership.
Sharpe's responsibilities include raising awareness of Gerber Life's policy products. Technology has enhanced the means for marketing to consumers a great deal over the course of Sharpe's time with the company.
"The way people consume media has changed a lot," she said. "12 years ago, Facebook was an idea and not an entire channel into its own. New platforms pop up every day. Just being on top of making sure that we're testing new areas and staying away from ones that are not the best places to sell insurance. It's a combination of both."
Since its founding in 1928, the Gerber baby food company pursued various other lines of business, establishing a life insurance company in 1967. At first, Gerber Life specialized in life insurance for juveniles, but in recent years expanded to older individuals with guaranteed issue products.
When Sharpe joined Gerber, it was owned by Nestlé. In 2018, Gerber Life was sold to financial services and life insurance company Western & Southern Financial Group.
Before joining Gerber Life, Sharpe began her career in direct marketing, later getting into the insurance industry by working in direct marketing for AIG. "I was working in the direct marketing team, managing bank relationships with AIG, and I found insurance marketing and direct marketing very interesting."
First hired by Gerber Life as senior product marketing manager, Sharpe found marketing interesting for "the insights that you can get in direct marketing, not just spending money for brand awareness, but being able to get really to the heart of whether these messages are resonating with people and being able to analyze the success of campaigns at a more specific level," she said.
Gerber Life pursued this analysis by investing in a transformation of its data operations in recent years to better leverage new technology, Sharpe recalled. This includes investment in marketing automation platforms, and partnerships allowing one-on-one marketing to consumers.
"We've embraced one to one marketing," she said. "That will be a big piece of the future for us. And just really making sure you're getting to the right people that are interested in your offers. There's still a huge life insurance gap in the market. People say they need coverage, but don't have it. Are we making sure we're getting to those individuals so they're aware of the products we have available?"
Leadership to accomplish that goal means looking at what's been missing in conversations about the product and the work, according to Sharpe. Leading by example and building trust are key elements, she added.
"The technical pieces are not the why, they're how you're going to get there," she said. "It's making sure you're anchored on the 'why' of why you're doing something."
