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Almost three years ago, Micky Onvural made a surprising move. She left her role as CEO of B2C fashion brand Bonobos to become CMO of TIAA, a century-old B2B brand focused on retirement planning.
“It was a completely new thing for me,” says Micky, who also held marketing roles at B2C brands eBay and L'Oréal.
This new perspective is exactly what TIAA wanted. Micky was hired as chief marketing and communications officer shortly after CEO Tashunda Brown Duckett took the helm.
TIAA knew that because of its heritage in higher education and nonprofit insurance, it needed to move away from the perception that it was a “stuffy, old, white male brand.” Instead, it wanted to be known for its modern, fast and dynamic work.
TIAA CMO Micky Onvural
B2B Content Marketer of the Year 2024
Such a rebranding is already a big goal, but it adds another big hurdle. TIAA never really had a marketing strategy. For the first 95 years or so, market dominance was sufficient. When Mickey came along, TIAA had to raise awareness and break through in a crowded market to get people's attention.
“I was incredibly lucky to be given a kind of blank slate,” says Micky.
To tell a new TIAA story, Micky and the team turned to two cornerstones of B2B content marketing: an event and a publication, both called TMRW.
In 2024, TMRW (the publication) was named Best B2B Branded Content Campaign at the Content Marketing Awards. And Micky, who drove and led the work, won the title of “B2B Content Marketer of the Year 2024”.
An event that grew out of TED and Coachella
TIAA's reinvention began with an existing annual conference for its core customer base – retirement plan sponsors. Traditionally, attendees spent a day and a half earning their industry continuing education credits while TIAA promoted their products.
Micky wanted to transform the event into something she had dreamed up as a child of TED and Coachella. Her team was inspired by the idea.
They named the “baby” TIAA TMRW and planned content to help retirement plan sponsors do their jobs better and better address the retirement challenges faced by employees in the higher education industry.
The transformation worked. “We’ve seen people’s perception of the brand change dramatically and quickly,” says Micky. “I think it's because of things I call 'symbols of reappraisal.' There are moments when you think, 'Oh, I didn't expect that.'”
Evaluations showed that more than 80% of attendees at their first TIAA TMRW event positively changed their perception of the brand. “It’s become an event you want to go to because who doesn’t want to get better at their job and get involved with their community,” Micky says.
The incredibly successful event led the TIAA team to expand their education-focused marketing strategy to include a full-fledged content brand.
Expansion of the TMRW content brand
TMRW now includes a digital content hub and a print publication in addition to the event.
The editorial team, led by former journalist Beverly Goodman, covers complex topics (like the pension crisis and financial literacy) without the jargon typically associated with financial services company thought leadership.
Using conversational language and a human element, TMRW breaks down complex concepts into understandable terms.
TIAA launched TMRW online in June 2023 and followed with the first issue of a 30-page print magazine. The second issue in October 2023 comprised a total of 34 pages and was sent as an insert in the PLANSPONSOR magazine.
The team created more than 300 digital assets to support the first editions, including webinars, social media posts, advertising in online trade publications and internal automated marketing sequences.
TMRW articles are also cataloged in TIAA's content library (on the Seismic platform). Sales and distribution teams, some of whom provide feedback in editorial planning meetings, can “shop” for the content they need.
TMRW's results exceeded all benchmarks set by TIAA to raise awareness and improve perceptions of TIAA as a thought leader.
In digital, TIAA received 764 online subscription lead records in less than three months (a subscription rate of 2.6%). Of these, 625 were new leads, resulting in lead generation of 2.1%, which was better than expected.
The second edition delivered even better results. The additional 365 subscribers contributed to a 176% increase in web traffic.
TIAA also added TMRW webinars to the content distribution model, which resulted in more lead generation.
While they showed that TIAA TMRW was good for business, the metrics also helped with editorial planning. Page views, average time on page, email messages, and A/B testing on social media and digital advertising provide important feedback. For example, the team theorized that customers wanted more regulatory news, but legislative updates received the least attention.
Further proof that TIAA TMRW's future is strong: a trade publication has picked up one of its articles. And account managers (sales team members) continue to receive positive feedback.
One customer even took the time to write and said, “Thank you for sharing this new publication with the Retiree Roundtable! I have subscribed and look forward to reading each segment.”
Obligation to print
Print (yes, print) is essential to the TMRW strategy. TIAA treats its readers to beautifully designed issues that look and feel like a high-end consumer magazine.
Designed by agency partner Transport, TMRW is a literal manifestation of TIAA's reinvention.
“I don’t think our first issue would have had the same impact without the physical presence of a printed edition,” says Micky. “(It's) quite unexpected for us as a brand and for them [financial services] Industry.”
TIAA publishes two editions of TMRW per year – a February/March edition aimed at planning sponsors and an October edition aimed at consultants. Although the themes differ slightly in content and tone, Micky says they are both the cornerstone of the TMRW franchise and “the perception of who we are as a more forward-thinking organization.”
Print also allows the TIAA team to offer a wealth of content with diverse insights and perspectives – internal and external – in a single package. TIAA representative teams bring copies of the magazine to events where they host or exhibit, as well as to customer and prospect meetings.
Micky says print magazines don't typically work well in B2C marketing. However, they can work well for B2B brands with limited audiences. And TIAA has sponsors and financial advisors in its institutional plan.
Print also has what Mickey calls the “passable” factor. A human resources manager will hand it to their facility's CFO and say, “You should look at this.”
Looking into the future of TMRW
The TIAA team isn't resting on TMRW's laurels. Micky says they plan to evolve the digital experience to include more videos and other elements. “We have tried some of this on a smaller scale and will continue to work on it through 2025.”
Further evidence of the impact of TMRW is crucial to its sustainability. But the results include more than just numbers.
“It was exciting to see how people interact with us differently because they see us differently,” explains Micky.
Employees, including those who distribute the magazine at events and customer meetings, have more positive experiences because they are involved in something new and exciting at the 116-year-old brand.
And now TMRW's stories fill Mickey's once-empty list.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
