USAA’s CMO on how the insurance brand is changing its marketing approach

Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, check us out on Spotify and hear us on Stitcher. This is our RSS feed. Tell a friend! When the pandemic first struck, USAA—the insurance and financial company that serves American military members, veterans and their families—was in the midst of debuting a new localized spring campaign. The San Antonio, Texas-based company had to hit pause, and switch gears, focusing on helping its members with advice, flexible payment options and assistance with coping with the financial restraints they were dealing with, says Chief Marketing Officer Mayra Rivera. “We had to tell them the help was available,” she says. On the latest episode of the “Marketer’s Brief," Rivera sheds more light on how the brand changed tactics during the pandemic, and how it is now recallibrating its media investment strategies as the economy begins to open up again. The company is also looking to accelerate its investment in digital channels such as Pinterest. Rivera says USAA has seen increased conversion from Pinterest. USAA is also looking at continuing to leverage its partnership with the National Football League during upfront season. “As consumers and brands and companies start to return back to normal, there’s a lot of pent-up excitement,” says Rivera. But as of last fall, the company was still dealing with ad-shoot restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic and rising cases. Rivera says the brand used flexible options like virtual casting calls and camera kits mailed to talent in order to get the campaign underway. “We were basically asking family members of the talent to act as a production crew,” she says. “We had to coach them in between scenes and hope they would be able to capture the scene in the way it was needed.” But she says USAA was pleasantly surprised with the results and that the brand expects to continue filming ads this way after the pandemic. The company is also looking to accelerate its investment in digital channels such as Pinterest. Rivera says USAA has seen increased conversion from Pinterest. The insurer is also leaning into its National Football League sponsorship, she says.

USAA’s CMO on how the insurance brand is changing its marketing approach

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