The formula that succeeded in attracting one million clients to mandatory pension funds was a combination of reputation, extensive sales force and low investments in marketing, says Mioara Maruster, chief operating officer with Allianz-Tiriac (AZT) Pensii Private.
"At the start of the sales campaign, our research indicated that Allianz was well-known nationally, and so we decided not to spend too much on marketing and promotion," says Mioara Maruster.
The company's overall promotional budget stood at around 4m euros, earmarked both for the voluntary pension campaign, which started in spring, and the mandatory one.
The company's estimates indicate that, because of the small promotional investments, AZT may have the smallest ad costs per participant for mandatory pension funds, at least among the large pension companies.
This is a marked difference compared to ING, which invested the most among all pension funds in advertising last year.
As most offers on the market were similar, the difference was determined by customers' confidence in the various brands
Another difference, says Mioara Maruster, was the sales force ratio between funds' own agents and alternative channels.
"In our case, half of the over 1 million customers were found by an internal sales force and the other half by external distribution channels, primarily several brokers".
In the mandatory pension campaign, AZT Pensii Private collaborated with 27 brokers of various sizes. In comparison, the total number of brokers that operate on this market revolves around 40.
The biggest three brokers on the market in terms of the number of marketing agents, namely Brokerpool Cluj, FinCoP and Salve Club, operated massive sales on behalf of the fund managed by Allianz-Tiriac Pensii Private. As regards its own force, AZT used a network of more than 25,000 agents, of whom only 77% were active (i.e. sealed at least one contract).
Overall, the mandatory pension market attracted almost 4 million customers validated by the National Pensions and Social Security Office, after Allianz posted an above 25% share.
The total number of clients that signed with more funds in AZT portfolio stood at 3%, namely around 30,000.
At present, the next step for Allianz is to shift its focus towards the market of voluntary pensions, after the company ended last year in the top position in terms of the number of customers, after the assets of all 7 funds on the market amounted to just 4m euros.
As for 2008, managers believe it will be the year of voluntary pensions, which could attract several hundred thousand customers.
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