Thrivent is a Fortune 500 holistic financial services organisation driven by a higher purpose, helping its 2.3 million clients in the USA make the most of all they have been given. Through its purpose-based model, it helps connects the higher purpose and values of its clients to their financial goals for today and in the future. Its new brand experience (launched in 2020) was designed to reflect its fundamental purpose as an organisation and promise to clients, and is intended to fuel growth and relevance among a new generation of clients and show how Thrivent is a truly unique financial services organisation.
As a membership-owned fraternal organisation, Thrivent paid out USD 1.76 billion in life and health benefits in 2020 at a critical time for many, and returned USD 300 million in dividends to eligible clients in 2022. In the last 10 years, more than USD 2.9 billion in dividends have been distributed. Through its generosity programmes, Thrivent also helped clients with their charitable work, as clients, family and friends volunteered over 9 million hours raising USD 208 million for good causes.
Thrivent believes its customers want to work with an organisation which sees “money as a tool, not a goal”; a company with financial expertise whose customers see their financial picture in one place; and underpinned by a modern, digital-first experience. Thrivent believes that an organisation which meets these demands and serves its clients in this way, will benefit from future growth.
Due to the changing US marketplace – influenced by emerging disruptors, shifts in customer expectations, and new digital trends – and being largely unknown outside the US Midwest, Thrivent embarked on a rebrand in 2020.
The organisation set out to deliver this rebrand by looking at its purpose, promise and principles. This, in turn, drove the development of the new brand experience as a key component of its transformation: to create a purpose-driven company for future generations, helping people achieve financial clarity.
Thrivent revisited its history, looking at what it wanted to honour moving forward to become more relevant. It launched its new brand, strategy and communications via its first national advertising campaign and through radio, print and digital channels. It also completed the development of a new Corporate Centre in downtown Minneapolis, which carried the new brand throughout.
The repositioning of Thrivent’s brand was around a targeted customer base to serve the younger generation, who saw Thrivent more as a charity than a financial service organisation. This generation identified the importance in changing peoples’ perception to increase awareness around their financial expertise and advice.
Thrivent identified the key elements of its new brand: to be visually modern in tone; designed so that every touchpoint that a client has with the organisation is done in a modern and conversational way; and designed primarily for digital platforms.
This case study was featured in the ICMIF report Leveraging the mutual difference (published February 2022).
Click here to access the report.
The shared purpose and values of Thrivent and its (future) clients was a key focus to building its new brand. This was combined with a move towards being customer-centric, and understanding the clients’ needs rather than focusing primarily on products.
A further piece of the brand was Thrivent’s new ‘unifying idea’ (rather than a tagline): Thrive with purpose, a play on its name that succinctly reinforces what the brand stands for and the idea that customers can create their own definition of purpose as they engage with the organisation in the future.
Since the launch of its national advertising campaign in 2020, Thrivent has generated interest and excitement with unprecedented scope; and garnered recognition and results, including earning Gold Stevie® Awards for Marketing Campaign of the Year in two categories: Financial Products & Services and Insurance.
This case study is taken from a presentation Creating a purpose-driven company for future generations: Beginning with brand.
Learn more about what makes Thrivent unlike any other US financial service organisation here.
About Thrivent
Thrivent is a diversified financial services organisation that helps people achieve financial clarity, enabling lives full of meaning and gratitude. Thrivent and its subsidiary and affiliate companies serve more than 2.3 million clients, offering advice, insurance, investments, banking and generosity products and programs over the phone, online as well as through financial professionals and independent agents nationwide. Thrivent is a Fortune 500 company with USD 189 billion in assets under management/advisement (as of 21/12/21).
Founded on shared beliefs in 1902, Thrivent has been helping others live more generous lives while guiding them on their financial path for over 120 years. In 2020, Thrivent transformed its brand and mission to help clients and future generations “Thrive with Purpose.”
