Voya Introduces Chinese Name and Advertising Campaign to Raise Brand Awareness in Asian-American Community
WINDSOR, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that it has created a Chinese version of its name to help appeal to the Asian-American community and reinforce its commitment to this growing market. The Chinese name is pronounced wò yǎ — which translates to richness and happiness of life for the future.
“It might sound simple, but we actually considered 18 name options and conducted sophisticated market research to ensure the Chinese version of Voya captured key attributes of our brand — which is optimistic, stable and trustworthy,” explained Rodney O. Martin Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, Voya Financial. “Since we have a long history of helping serve the Asian-American community, introducing a Chinese name for Voya that speaks to the importance of building a secure financial future seemed like the next logical step in achieving our vision to be America’s Retirement Company®.”
According to the Pew Research Center,1 the Asian population in the U.S. grew 72 percent between 2000 and 2015 — from 11.9 million to 20.4 million — the fastest growth rate of any major racial or ethnic group. Voya has a strong presence serving the multicultural market, specifically the Asian-American community. For example, the majority of the company’s Individual Life sales come from multicultural consumers.2 Additionally, Voya’s Individual Life business creates in-language and in-culture marketing materials and recently enhanced its dedicated support service to accommodate people who speak Mandarin and other dialects of Chinese.
“As the demographics of the U.S. continue to shift, we need to make sure that we’re thinking about the financial needs of all Americans. This includes understanding cultural differences and looking for creative ways to better communicate the services that we offer,” explained Martin. “Specifically for the Asian-American community, the decision to create a Chinese version of the Voya name is one way that our company plans to reinforce its long-term commitment to this important and growing market across our businesses.”
Mandarin Brand Advertising Campaign
In addition to unveiling its new Chinese name, Voya launched a three-month advertising campaign to help build brand awareness in the Asian-American community. The campaign leveraged a combination of television and digital ads as well as paid searches to target key Asian-American markets and media channels. For example, as part of the campaign activation, the company has been running Voya commercials in Mandarin on Chinese television stations in a number of select U.S. cities — like San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. The in-language, 30-second commercial features an orange origami Voya butterfly symbolizing how planning for retirement today can help transform one’s financial future tomorrow.3
“Last spring, Voya spoke with several of our top advisors and employees who serve the Asian-American community and asked what we could do as a company to help better support their clients. The feedback was universal: increase Voya’s brand awareness in this market,” explained Carolyn Johnson, CEO of Annuities and Individual Life at Voya Financial. “By listening and tailoring a special advertising campaign based on direct feedback, hopefully more Asian-Americans will now think of Voya as a trusted partner to help them to and through retirement.”
Voya’s Mandarin brand advertising campaign launched in late 2017, and the Chinese name will continue to be used in Voya’s marketing efforts. To celebrate the Chinese New Year on Feb. 16, Voya also launched a series of posts on its social media channels. More information can be found by visiting the Mandarin page on voya.com (voya.com/journey).
About Voya Financial ®
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings — to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 14.7 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $8.6 billion in revenue in 2017. The company had $555 billion in total assets under management and administration as of Dec. 31, 2017. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time — Voya’s vision is to be America’s Retirement Company®. Certified as a “Great Place to Work” by the Great Place to Work® Institute, Voya is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible. Voya has been recognized as one of the 2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies® by the Ethisphere Institute, one of the 2018 World’s Most Admired Companies by Fortune magazine and one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S. by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @Voya.
1) Pew Research Center (Sept. 2017); analysis from the 2000 and 2010 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, “The Asian Population: 2010” Census Brief, Table 6. For 2006–2009 and 2011–2015, American Community Survey one-year survey estimates (American Fact Finder).
2) Voya internal sales data regarding the company’s Individual Life business for 2017.
3) The included commercial is not for public use or broadcast. It is being provided for reference only and should not be distributed in any form.
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Voya Financial
Bill Sutton
Office: (860) 580-2626
Cell: (315) 373-9685
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