The Underwriter’s Corner: Underwriting Q & A

Current News: The Rolling Stones Know What You Need: An Annuity

So it’s come to this: deferred annuities and rock ’n’ roll.

We’d like to believe that the Stones are as ageless as Peter Pan, but it turns out that the band chose, as its sole sponsor for their upcoming tour, the Alliance for Lifetime Income — a nonprofit trade association that promotes the sale of annuities.

The Stones started performing in the summer of 1962, and all four current members are over 70. In 2019 the band’s demographic has also aged, and that has commercial consequences.

“When fans move with the musicians, there’s no reason that advertising shouldn’t move with them,” said John Covach, a Rolling Stones scholar and professor of music theory who directs the University of Rochester’s Institute for Popular Music.

The Stones’ audience is perfect for the Alliance for Lifetime Income, said Jean Statler, the executive director of the annuities group, a nonprofit with 24 financial service companies as members. They include AIG, Allianz, Axa, Goldman Sachs, Prudential, State Street and TIAA.

She said that people who attend the band’s shows are “our target demographic: 45- to 72-year-olds with investable assets between $75,000 and $2 million.”

(Source: NY Times)