Stephen Bender Email & Phone Number

New York, Ny, Us

New York, New York, Us

My team is responsible for the planning, design, and execution of all product marketing initiatives for New York Life's Retail Annuities Business. Our work spans more than a dozen unique products within three distinct categories: variable annuities, guaranteed income annuities, and fixed deferred annuities. In 2018, New York Life's annuity sales totaled nearly $15 billion.While we're tasked with developing programs, campaigns, tools, and marketing collateral to drive sales of our products, our ultimate job is to help educate consumers on the beneficial role annuities can play in a successful retirement portfolio. We aim to accomplish this by creating digestible content, packaging it in engaging ways, and putting it in front of the right people.We also partner with teams from Sales, Product Development, Legal, Operations, and Corporate Communications to launch new products, craft messages and communications, and enhance the resources we manage every day.

New York, New York, Us

Led staff of designers and digital content creators for New York Life’s $12 billion Retail Annuities organization.Responsible for setting the vision and managing the concept-forward creative direction for all internal and external marketing objectives, including:-Visual branding and design of all marketing deliverables (E.g. print collateral, infographics, social media posts, presentations, ads)-Art, photography, and graphics composition-Video scripting, storyboarding, and animating-UX and wireframe design for online advisor tools and mobile applications (E.g. the “Incomputer” iPad app)-Webpage construction for retirement content on NewYorkLife.com and NewYorkLifeAnnuities.com-Digital campaign asset creation for social media platforms (E.g. the “Retirement Blind Spots” campaign for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Hearsay) and email marketing programs (via Eloqua)-Tagline, headline, and “What’s the Hook?” development during early project stages-Long and short-form copywriting-Editorial oversight and proofreadingRegularly reviewed corporate brand guidelines and communicated updates to business stakeholders to ensure organizational consistency.Wrote, narrated, and designed whiteboard videos (using VideoScribe) to educate targeted audiences on retirement topics.Collaborated with sales managers to brainstorm quarterly themes and design presentations for national advisor conferences.Worked with senior executives to build polished, impactful PowerPoint decks for Town Hall meetings and B2B partner events.Spearheaded the naming efforts for new annuity products and programs.Identified new technologies and creative practices to better engage with our clients (E.g. Gamification, VideoScribe)Hosted company-wide, presentation-building seminars to help other business areas create better PowerPoint slides.Managed team workflow, set daily priorities, “QC” all work, conduct staffing searches, and championed each member’s career growth.

New York, New York, Us

Promoted to lead copywriter and brand ambassador for New York Life’s Retail Annuities business.Managed all facets of the 2012 corporate rebranding initiative (the “Keep Good Going” campaign) for our product line, including:- Partnering with Corporate Communications and our external agency to gain expertise in new brand voice and visual guidelines- Rewriting and redesigning our extensive library of consumer and advisor-facing marketing material (100+ pieces)- Setting the voice and design vision for all new marketing content, while working with external creative resources to execute production- Evaluating and approving the tone and content of all client correspondence (service letters, policy communications, emails) to improve their clarity and effectiveness- Educating the marketing, sales, product development, operations, compliance, and service teams on new brand standards to ensure consistency within all forms of outbound communicationsWrote and launched the department’s first ever “Welcome Campaign,” a five-part email series that “on-boards” first time annuity sellers.Served as ghostwriter for senior leadership, crafting organizational announcements, important business memos, and press releases.Elected Chair of the Communications Committee for an internal, employee engagement board (The iLink Board of Directors); a two-year commitment responsible for writing and distributing all group communications (2,000+ employees).

New York, New York, Us

Produced and managed marketing programs and sales promotions for New York Life annuity products.Led marketing efforts and material creation for two unique product launches (the Guaranteed Future Income Annuity and the Income Plus Variable Annuity), including product brochure and fact sheet development, training presentation design, and promotional advertising.Wrote and designed point-of-sale collateral to help advisors promote New York Life’s competitive advantages to their clients.Scripted, storyboarded, and directed an external vendor through production of an animated, sales strategy video (“The 4-Box Strategy for Retirement Income”) which pitched the program’s benefits to prospects.Built sleek, consumer retirement seminar presentations and advisor training decks, successfully weaving high-end graphics and imagery with engaging storytelling.Launched the New York Life Annuities email template campaign, an automated promotional initiative aimed at building relationships with key distribution partners.Met weekly with sales and relationship management teams to solicit marketing ideas, provide “heads up” information, and evaluate effectiveness of existing programs.

Boston, Ma, Us

Developed and executed the delivery of collateral for LTCI products, including consumer brochures, producer recruiting materials, and trade ads.Maintained close relationship with sales team to implement and manage programs that helped promote key sales initiatives and generate leads (E.g. National Wholesaling Marketing Program).Wrote, launched, and managed monthly “LTC Business Builders” and “LTC in Motion” programs, which highlighted fresh LTCI sales opportunities to broker/dealer groups and the John Hancock Financial Network.Contributed to product launches, including the written development of direct mail literature and training material.Produced promotional campaigns associated with strategic marketing schemes, including product and website launches (E.g. collateral for sales contests, posters and brochures, billboards, online banner ads).Created scripts and worked with external vendor to produce promotional flash commercials as a medium of communicating new products and programs to producers.Supported the development of a weekly producer-focused online newsletter, including the creation of articles, distribution, and management of a web-based editing tool.Managed compliance reviews and prepared consumer marketing materials for state insurance department review.

Volunteered to help promote and execute sneak previews of major motion pictures.Totaled intra-company intern debits and filed back-ups accordingly.Coordinated monthly invoices with respective checks and mailed expenditures.Assisted managers with billing, photocopying, and deliveries.