AXA

Variable Annuities, have become part of the retirement and investment plans of many Americans over recent years, but they have seen little coverage in the UK market. The Hartford introduced VA’s to the market with an educational campaign in 2005, but then absconded from the UK market over a year ago.

AXA Wealth and ALE will be launching its own variation of a Variable Annuity in 2010. Our Variable Annuity will be called Secure Advantage and will offer either a protected capital guarantee (accumulation plan) or a protected income guarantee (deaccumulation plan). These are essentially 2 separate plans.

Protected Capital – A unit linked investment plan where ALE guarantees the capital that is built up in the plan. This can either be the value of the payments you have made into the plan or the value of your plan after the 10 years. You may defer using the capital to purchase another pension plan or annuity for immediate income up to 20 years.

Protected Income – A unit linked plan designed to give clients a guaranteed income for life whilst leaving the rest of the money invested in the retirement fund, giving it the potential to grow in value over time.

AXA Wealth will offer 3 product wrappers to hold the investments. Either a Personal Pension, Offshore bond or TIP.

Objectives

Business Objectives
• Drive sales for Secure Advantage products.

• Position AXA Wealth / AXA Life Europe as a serious contender in the VA market.

• Seize market share from competition.

Marketing Objectives
• Land the proposition in the market with a promotional campaign aimed to rival existing promotional activity from Metlife and/or other competitors.

• Educate the market about what VA’s / third way products/guaranteed drawdown plans offer.

• Increase awareness levels and interest in Secure Advantage and the AXA Wealth/AXA Life Europe brand.

The Proctors response
Our technical writing skills along with in depth knowledge of literature design guidelines ensured that the clearest presentation of this complex proposition was achieved. In fact the literature suite we produced has been widely received by AXA as a great example of how new product literature should be produced.