View the full Brand Finance Insurance 100 report here
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.
Hugo Hensley, Associate Director at Brand Finance, commented:
“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.”
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) isthe 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. UnipolSai has benefited from extremely favourable stakeholder evaluations which have improved its brand strength significantly – in contrast with many of the much larger brands in this ranking, UnipolSai only operates in a single geographic community, the nation of Italy. While other insurance brands do restrict themselves to one nation, multi-ethnic nations such as China and the United States have substantially larger and more diverse communities than Italy.
View the full Brand Finance Insurance 100 report here
ENDS
Note to Editors
Every year, leading brand valuation consultancy 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 world’s top 100 most valuable and strongest insurance brands are included in the Brand Finance Insurance 100 ranking.
Brand value is understood as the net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market. Brand strength is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures relative to its competitors.
The full ranking, additional insights, charts, more information about the methodology, and definitions of key terms are available in the Brand Finance Insurance 100 report.
Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. Bridging the gap between marketing and finance for more than 25 years, Brand Finance evaluates the strength of brands and quantifies their financial value to help organizations of all kinds make strategic decisions.
Headquartered in London, Brand Finance has offices in over 20 countries, offering services on all continents. Every year, Brand Finance conducts more than 5,000 brand valuations, supported by original market research, and publishes over 100 reports which rank brands across all sectors and countries.
Brand Finance also operates the Global Brand Equity Monitor, conducting original market research annually on over 5,000 brands, surveying more than 150,000 respondents across 38 countries and 31 industry sectors. Combining perceptual data from the Global Brand Equity Monitor with data from its valuation database enables Brand Finance to arm brand leaders with the data and analytics they need to enhance brand and business value.
Brand Finance is a regulated accountancy firm, leading the standardization of the brand valuation industry. Brand Finance was the first to be certified by independent auditors as compliant with both ISO 10668 and ISO 20671 and has received the official endorsement of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) in the United States.
