The U.S. has a growing population of Chinese-born, American-bred citizens – and MassMutual Financial Group wants to sell them insurance. But for this demographic to buy, the insurer figured it needed to recruit one of their own to help make the sale.

That’s where Amy Chen, the Springfield-based company’s newest hire, comes in. Chinese-born but raised in America, Chen is fluent in both languages and knows the ins and outs of the culture. As of this month she will lead the Chinese-American marketing development and recruitment efforts, intended to capitalize on the country’s changing demographics.

“I’m very typical,” Chen told Banker & Tradesman. “I grew up here in the U.S. I understand the Chinese culture, but understand the American culture.”

In addition to her cultural credentials, Chen has an insurance and financial planning background. As part of her job, she said, she’ll be traveling around the country to recruit agents for the company’s multicultural agenda. MassMutual’s agents will be selling life insurance as well as more complicated services like business planning and estate planning. But much of that potential success depends on the type of prospects the agents are working with: Chinese-Americans possess a wide-ranging spectrum of financial experience, Chen noted, and some need more expert help than others.

‘Blooms Of Growth’

From the nation’s vast array of ethnic groups, MassMutual is targeting five main groups for sales growth: Koreans, Chinese, African-Americans, Hispanics and Indians. The insurer has a smattering of other efforts – when the company markets in Chicago, for example, it gives a nod toward the Polish roots of local customers. But Chen and her four cohorts pull the strings for the five nationwide groups, hiring agents with specific cultural backgrounds and ensuring advertising is respectfully tweaked to appeal to these ethnicities.

And as the latest U.S. Census Bureau data continues to reveal eye-popping changes in U.S. demographics, insurers’ interest in catching the growing market has only increased.

“The census has definitely heightened awareness of the marketplace, and to some degree we’re taking a look at what should we do differently to further focus ourselves in this community,” said Laurel Daring, assistant vice president of multicultural efforts for MassMutual competitor MetLife. She’s been working in that capacity since 2005, but told Banker & Tradesman the company was executing tailored, cultural-based outreach long before she arrived.

MassMutual and ING Financial Group – which has a significant presence in nearby Connecticut – have spent several years specifically tailoring their marketing efforts to subsets of the general population. And new statistics keep reassuring the company that it’s got the right idea, according to Chris Mendoza, director of multicultural business for MassMutual.

“A statistic that just blew my socks off – if you take a look at just Los Angeles County … three out of every four children born in Los Angeles County are born to a Hispanic mother,” he said.

“The Census Bureau is just watching these little blooms of growth around the United States in places you wouldn’t expect it.”

For example, central U.S. states such as the Dakotas have seen some counties skyrocket in population in the past decade almost entirely on the strength of a Hispanic population moving into local construction or meatpacking jobs.

Tricky Business

But targeting specific ethnicities is a tricky business. Brochures and advertising material aimed toward different groups must be culturally appealing without blundering into incorrect or patronizing territory. That translates into subtle shifts in colors and images, and carefully considered wording on printed marketing materials.

The company’s advertising for its 160th anniversary celebration this year, for instance, varied depending on where the ad was distributed. For Chinese publications, it showed a multi-generational family eating noodles together, because noodles are a cultural symbol of longevity. Korean-Americans, on the other hand, got images of rice cakes.

The issue has been at the forefront of ING’s efforts as well, with a new initiative launched several years ago and expanded over time. In late 2009, the U.S. branch of the Dutch company announced it would be expanding its multicultural staff, said spokesman Phil Margolis. Now several years in, the effort is evolving past its initial foray into life insurance as customers establish a relationship with their agents and graduate on to other products, including annuities.

Most recently, the company launched a Spanish version of a major online project called “IngForLife.com,” in which customers can get quotes and learn about the company’s offerings. The Spanish version isn’t just a language change, Margolis said, but a completely different site with cultural changes and different actors walking customers through the site.

These markets are growing fast and are largely underserved, he said, so it makes sense to try and appeal to them.

MetLife’s Daring noted that education also plays a big part of multicultural agents’ efforts. Many target customers come from regions or countries where life insurance is almost nonexistent, so agents have to understand that they’ll need to slow down and do a bit of teaching as well as selling.

To learn more about its multicultural customers, Mendoza added, MassMutual is also planning to release an extensive study on small business owners’ financial plans and worries. The study, due out in a few weeks, is another attempt to better understand these customers as they spread across the U.S.

“We’re tying to get ahead of the curve, versus getting caught later on.”