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AIA banks on Gen Y for growth [Business Times (Malaysia)]
[June 29, 2014]

AIA banks on Gen Y for growth [Business Times (Malaysia)]


(Business Times (Malaysia) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIA'S largest life insurer, AIA Bhd, which is banking on Generation Y to grow its business, is focusing on keeping its agency force young.

Chief marketing officer Thomas Wong said despite being a 66-year-old brand, AIA is staying young and vibrant to expand its workforce and customer base.

"We are proactively engaging those in the under-35 age group, or the Gen Y-ers. Last year, we recruited 5,800 Life Planners and more than 80 per cent of them were Gen Y-ers," he said in an interview.

Wong said Gen Y-ers are generally at the leading edge of new technologies and typically spark new trends and changes in the marketplace.

"As a result, they have become a useful gauge for marketers to gain insight into the rising expectations of customers across all generations," Wong said.

Wong said this "young" profile among its workforce resulted from its "Let's Get Real" recruitment drive last year, which was aimed at attracting the younger generation towards a fulfilling career as Life Planners.



He added that besides staying ahead of the competition, AIA is constantly keeping its brand young. To this end, it sponsored a series of mega events over the past year, designed to connect with the Gen Y-ers on those platforms that they value.

Among them were the AIA K-Pop Concert 2013, The Music Run by AIA and its recent lead sponsorship of Taylor Swift's Red Tour Concert.


At group level, AIA entered into a five-year partnership with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in February, which will see the AIA brand featured on the shirts of Spurs players in all competitions until the end of the 2018/2019 season.

"Given that Gen Y-ers now make up 40 per cent of Malaysia's workforce, building affinity with this group is important as Malaysia has a large, young insurable population," Wong said.

He said AIA sees a role in educating Gen Yers much earlier ab out s e curing their future through adequate protection, savings and retirement plans.

It recently launched A-Plus Gen-Next, which is designed to provide them with the financial aid they may need to overcome some of the temporary challenges in life, like illness and disease, so that their long-term plans are not derailed.

AIA's RM36 million investment for the AIA Financial Centre in Jalan Ampang, which was launced a few weeks ago, is aimed at creating a vibrant work environment to ensure employees enjoy quality of life during their time spent in the office, Wong said.

(c) 2014 The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).

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