Jennifer Halloran, chief marketing officer of MassMutual, sees a parallel between women athletes, who see payoffs investing their time and effort to develop skills and women investors who do the same.
During March Madness, the brand launched a new campaign to promote financial literacy to women tuning in. The Stay Ready effort taps into the cultural moment by encouraging conversations about investing.
“It’s really this opportunity for us to elevate these female athletes as a brand and as the presence in their own sports space,” explains Halloran. “And then really rely on their stories to show the opportunities and the relatability that they have in how they’re building their futures, how they’re building their financial plans and how they can really prepare and the importance of bridging this gap of financial confidence that women have.”
Prior to joining MassMutual in 2016, Halloran held senior leadership positions at Fidelity and Mobiquity. MassMutual is hosting the Brand Innovators Media Buying Summit in Boston this week.
Brand Innovators caught up with her from her office in Boston to discuss women’s sports, Stay Ready and keeping a legacy brand relevant in the modern world. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MassMutual has been involved in women’s sports for quite a while. Can you talk about the strategy behind that investment?
MassMutual has been involved in supporting women’s sports for a number of years, even before I started here. Over the past couple of years, though, we’ve really leaned into it in a more strategic and intentional way.
We started by tapping into some of the major cultural moments – for example, leveraging the 50th anniversary of Title IX. We’ve built marquee events around women’s sports, but always with a connection back to the broader work we do around women and financial investing.
This past year, we really took a step back and said – how do we move beyond moment-based marketing and build a real platform that’s authentic to both the brand and the needs of women? We partnered with Deep Blue Sports, alongside our media agency partner Giant Spoon, to develop a bigger strategy rooted in research and insight.
That work led us to a clear connection, the journey of female athletes mirrors the financial journey many women face: moments of preparation, resilience and opportunity. That insight became the foundation for our new platform: Stay Ready.
Can you talk about this new platform?
Stay Ready is built on the idea that preparedness is essential for athletes and for women planning their financial futures. Female athletes train week in and week out to be ready for their next opportunity and that mindset translates beautifully to financial planning.
The platform is grounded in data around women investors, their financial behaviors and the confidence gap that still exists. We launched Stay Ready in March during both the men’s and women’s NCAA March Madness tournaments not only because of the natural tie to sports, but also because March is Women’s History Month.
It was a powerful moment to bring the platform to life, and we’ve got more storytelling coming throughout the year, including partnerships with The Athletic and The New York Times.
How are you approaching storytelling as part of this platform?
Storytelling is at the heart of Stay Ready. Our goal is always to bring forward authentic voices and experiences. We want the stories of these athletes to be relatable, to show that the same skills they use to prepare and succeed on the field or court are the same skills that can empower women financially.
It’s not just about telling the story in a single ad – we want to surround people with content across digital platforms where they can go deeper, learn more, and take action. Working with partners who help amplify these stories across multiple channels is a big part of our strategy.
Last fall, during an event in New York City, we had two NIL athletes on stage sharing their personal stories. As I listened to them, I started jotting down notes. What they were saying aligned exactly with the research we had done. Their stories were unscripted. They were real, and that’s where the power comes from.
How is MassMutual thinking about innovation as a brand?
Innovation is critical, especially in marketing. There are two big focus areas for us in 2025.
The first is around AI, particularly how we can use AI to power personalization and search optimization. Today’s consumers expect brands to know them, to deliver tailored, relevant experiences in the right moment, through the right channels. AI gives us an incredible opportunity to test, learn, and scale those personalized experiences faster and more efficiently.
The second area is around creators and influencers. The creator economy has exploded, especially within social commerce. While we’re not a direct-to-consumer brand in the traditional sense, we do have a unique opportunity to use creators and influencers to help connect people with financial advice and planning – to make those conversations more accessible and relatable, regardless of someone’s financial starting point.
How have your past experiences shaped your approach to marketing today?
I feel fortunate to have started my career in the advertising agency world. Working with multiple clients across different industries taught me how to look outside of my own bubble for inspiration and best practices. It trained me to always ask what’s happening in other industries that we can learn from?
From there, my time at Putnam gave me a deep understanding of financial distribution networks, learning how customers engage with financial advisors and how brands can influence that relationship.
At Fidelity, I really honed my skills in brand management, understanding the rigor it takes to build and sustain a powerful brand while remaining flexible enough to stay relevant as consumer expectations evolve. All of those experiences shaped my approach today: pushing teams to think creatively, to look beyond our category, and to always lead with authenticity and customer-centricity.
As a legacy brand, how is MassMutual approaching marketing in the modern world?
Next year, we’ll celebrate our 175th anniversary, which is pretty incredible. That legacy is built on trust, doing the right thing, and keeping our promises to our customers. Those values will always be at the core of our brand.
But at the same time, we’re evolving. One of the biggest shifts we’ve made over the past 18 months is elevating our wealth management capabilities. While MassMutual is well-known for insurance and protection products, we’re also a top 10 broker-dealer with a large network of financial advisors.
We see rising demand for advice — Americans are becoming wealthier, their financial needs are more complex, and they’re willing to pay for personalized guidance. Our opportunity is to show up as a trusted partner across the full spectrum of wealth — from accumulation and protection to legacy and generational wealth transfer.
We’ve already started to tell that story — and you’ll see even more from us this year as we continue to elevate MassMutual’s role in helping people plan and protect their financial futures.
