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RetireeFirst, formerly known as Labor First, is a leader in group retiree healthcare benefits management. Founded in 2005, the company was well known within the labor union sector, but as it began to service the public and corporate sectors, it needed to update its go-to-market approach to better reach all target audiences. At the time the company engaged Alloy, it was promoting two brand names, websites, sets of channels and marketing materials, creating internal challenges and marketplace confusion, as well as inhibiting growth. 

With a new marketing team and investors at the helm, RetireeFirst partnered with Alloy to rebrand, better articulate its value proposition and differentiators, and ultimately fuel demand in new verticals.

We dove deep into the company’s current positioning and solutions roadmap, personas and the competitor landscape. Our research underscored the need for a single, unified brand and uncovered white, ownable space in the market. After laying a new foundation, Alloy supported RetireeFirst in launching a new website, social platforms and sales materials, all backed by an integrated marketing program aimed at reaching new target audiences. 

  • Combining disparate brands for industry leadership

    Alloy led a rebrand that positioned the company as an industry leader and drove demand among new personas, while taking care not to alienate existing customers. Combining the company’s multiple brands into one go-to-market approach, including a new name, archetype and brand architecture, Alloy created a new brand and messaging that eliminated confusion and remained flexible to grow as the company expanded.

  • Defining audiences & personas

    To successfully target new buyers while maintaining trust with current customers during the rebrand and beyond, a deep understanding of personas was required. Combining market research with stakeholder interviews, Alloy created the brand’s first Persona Book to guide every touchpoint with users from launch day forward.

  • Thoughtful stakeholder communications

    The retiree benefits landscape is largely relationship-driven. That, combined with RetireeFirst’s tenure in the industry required a strategic approach to communicating the rebrand to ensure stakeholders would remain engaged. Alloy created an elongated sunset plan for legacy brand channels combined with a high-touch, multi-channel communications plan for customers, partners and prospects to ensure a seamless transition.

  • Building an awareness engine

    RetireeFirst had historically relied on word-of-mouth, outbound sales and trade shows for growth. This made increasing brand awareness, competitive differentiation and reaching new audiences difficult. To compensate, Alloy created a multifaceted media relations and thought-leadership campaign starting with the brand launch and continuing with corporate comms, proactive storytelling, awards and social media. The program catapulted RetireeFirst’s share of voice versus key competitors by over 50%.  

  • Creating customer opportunities

    With the new brand officially launched, RetireeFirst needed to stay top of mind with existing customers and prospects to increase demand. By developing a robust content pipeline and leveraging the brand’s new positioning in online ad campaigns, Alloy drove a 600% increase in SQLs.

RetireeFirst had never implemented an integrated, strategic approach to external communications before, so this program needed to prove the effectiveness of the rebrand approach as well as the multi-channel launch campaign. Within one week, executive and brand social engagements exceeded industry benchmarks, jumping 20%, paid search ads drove 750+ clicks to the website, and search and social ads netted 27 new contacts and 3 new SQLs, helping introduce the company to new audiences. RetireeFirst also surpassed competitors in market Share of Voice, garnering coverage in top trades and local media outlets. 

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share of voice increase
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branded search queries increase
%
QoQ increase of executive social media followers
%
increase in SQLs

Thanks to strategic repositioning and thoughtful stakeholder comms, RetireeFirst’s new brand resonated immediately — delivering increased share of voice and new SQLs within the first week.

Comprehensive analysis & market research

Before creating a GTM strategy, Alloy conducted multiple audits on the retiree benefits marketing landscape including competitor messaging, media trends, personas, SEO, direct buy opportunities and more in order to better understand buyers and identify space for RetireeFirst to stand out.  

Cohesive brand narrative

The brand needed to deliver a cohesive experience while addressing specific pain points so audiences felt engaged vs. disconnected. Leveraging insights from our initial phase, Alloy led the company through brand architecture and identity workshops, ultimately merging its two identities and renaming the company RetireeFirst. The new brand and messaging, which we reflected in a new website and marketing materials, elevated how the company spoke about itself, its solutions and to its customers — leading with impact and empathy.

Integrated marketing plan

Building a successful brand required long-term planning. Alloy needed to transfer the legacy brand’s strong awareness to RetireeFirst and generate immediate buzz and sustained demand, without disrupting current customers. We created an integrated, phased plan for roll-out including stakeholder comms, media relations, social media and content marketing that would increase visibility and credibility while clearly communicating the brand’s differentiators. 

Targeted ad campaigns

To provide a swell of increased brand presence and drive demand, Alloy created ad campaigns with the brand’s new positioning and creative that shifted to match buyer needs and introduced its target audiences to RetireeFirst.

DON'T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT

“We were drawn to Alloy because of their track record for constructing integrated marketing campaigns that are both scientific and humanizing.”

— Stephanie Doherty, SVP of Marketing
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