North American insurance brands are bouncing back better from the pandemic, with big insurers GEICO (brand value up 18% to US$13.1 billion), Progressive (brand value up 25% to US$11.2 billion), Canada Life (brand value up 51% to US$10.8 billion) and Chubb (brand value up 48% to US$10.8 billion) all achieving very impressive brand growth according to a new report from leading global brand consultancy, Brand Finance. Each of these North American insurance brands recorded big increases in brand value as the Western world looks towards a post-COVID future.
Every year, Brand Finance puts 5,000 of the world’s biggest brands to the test, and publishes around 100 reports, ranking brands across all sectors and countries. The insurance industry’s top 100 most valuable and strongest brands in the world are included in the annual Brand Finance Insurance 100 ranking.
While the Western world looks beyond COVID, Chinese insurance brands continue to face extremely challenging conditions. Ping An (brand value down 4% to US$42.9 billion) remains the world’s most valuable insurance brand, being stuck behind the COVID curtain of widespread continuing lockdowns. Ping An remains a very valuable brand whilst Brand Finance's research in China further reveals the brand to be extremely strong and perceived by customers as a trustworthy insurance partner.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Allianz (brand value up 15% to US$23.1 billion) jumped one place in the ranking, overtaking China Life (brand value up 1% to US$22.9 billion) to become the second most valuable insurance brand in the world. Allianz’s 15% growth in brand value was larger than any of the other top five insurance brands in the world, and reflective of further improvements in both brand strength and brand relevance as it takes advantage of post-COVID opportunities.
Besides Ping An, other Chinese insurance brands China Life (dropped one rank, from 2nd to 3rd), CPIC (brand value up 2% to US$15.8 billion) and AIA (brand value down 8% to US$13.0 billion) faced similarly lacklustre performance as large swathes of China head into further severe lockdowns.
Across the Western world, COVID restrictions are being lifted at various speeds, while in China, new restrictions are being imposed. These radically divergent policy prescriptions are correlated with very different movements in brand value. The North American and European insurance brands are bouncing back and building for the post-COVID world.
Hugo Hensley, Associate Director at Brand Finance
Trio of American insurance brands are amongst world’s fastest growing: Fidelity National Financial (up 78%), Hanover Insurance (up 60%) and Cincinnati (up 60%)
Fidelity National Financial (brand value up 78% to US$1.6 billion) is the world’s fastest growing insurance brand this year, jumping nineteen places in the global ranking, from 90th to 71st. Fidelity’s brand value is booming as it bounces back with positive forecasts and strong reputation amongst its key stakeholders.
Hanover Insurance (brand value up 60% to US$1.4 billion) and Cincinnati (brand value also up 60% to US$2.0 billion) both focused on their speciality areas in property and casualty insurance and built their brands substantially by expanding horizontally into new distribution channels – a contrast to Fidelity’s expansion into new verticals. This brand growth for Hanover and Cincinnati benefited from using distributed independent agents distributed geographically, allowing them to reach communities disrupted by the pandemic directly.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Prudential Plc (brand value up 60% to US$8.2 billion) was a rare bright spark amongst Chinese insurance brands, correlated with the demerger of its UK and Europe operations and allowing it to focus exclusively on its Asian and African business opportunities. The brand’s famous Prudence-head logo now only represents the Asian and African business, as the UK and Europe business previously rebranded as Pru following the transaction with M&G investments.
Canada Life enters top ten as acquisitions take brand value up 51% to US$10.8 billion
Like the USA brands mentioned above, Canada Life (brand value up 51% to US$10.8 billion) achieved very fast brand value growth this year. Canada Life’s brand has shown remarkable resilience through the pandemic period, boosted by the successful integration of the various businesses it has acquired in recent years. The brand has also benefited from local strategic initiatives, jumping six places in the insurance brand rankings from 16th to 10th and is now also amongst the top five Canadian brands across the economy.
Italy’s UnipolSai is world’s strongest insurance brand with elite AAA+ rating
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance. Compliant with ISO 20671, Brand Finance’s assessment of stakeholder equity incorporates original market research data from over 100,000 respondents in more than 35 countries and across nearly 30 sectors. Italy’s UnipolSai (brand value up 23% to US$3.1 billion) is the world’s strongest insurance brand in the ranking with AAA+ brand rating and a corresponding elite Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 89.6 out of 100.