HONG KONG –MetLife, Inc. announced that Ralph Brunner has joined the company as its Chief Marketing Officer for the Asia region. Brunner, who is also a member of MetLife’s Asia Leadership Group, will be based out of MetLife’s Asia region office in Hong Kong and reports to Christopher Townsend, President of Asia for MetLife.
In this role, Brunner will oversee and implement MetLife’s brand and customer centricity strategy, marketing, and product strategy as well as align local marketing activities, deploy global best practices and develop market intelligence and insights research capabilities in Asia.
“We’re delighted to have Ralph join our leadership team,” said Townsend. “He has a proven track record of leveraging consumer insights to drive product and service innovation, and will help create great experiences for MetLife customers and drive competitive advantage for the company.
Brunner joined MetLife from American Express (Amex) where he was Vice President of Brand, Marketing & Communications. In that role, he built strategy platforms for 160 markets and achieved industry-leading revenue growth. He has marketed 30 co-brands for Amex, including Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, ANA and David Jones — that drove 52% of Amex International’s billings — and the Payback platform that attracted 60 million customers in Mexico, Germany, India and Italy.
He led China brand strategy and co-developed the Japan strategy that helped it become Amex’s No. 1 market in revenue and profit. Brunner activated partnerships with Apple, Microsoft and Trip Advisor, developed Social Media and Online Commerce strategy, and led Facebook content creation for 52 markets. In a decade at Amex, he won 9 Chairman’s Awards for Innovation, a Gold Effie and 20 external strategy awards, and was voted by peers to THE ASIA 50, the top 50 marketers in the region, in 2013.
Earlier, Brunner was Regional Vice President of Marketing at John Hancock Financial Services, leading Asia brand strategy, product marketing, Olympic strategy, and China entry and launch strategy. He has 29 years of marketing, branding, and communications experience within the financial services industry and has a keen understanding of the Asia region and its cultural nuances having spent the last 20 years in Singapore in regional and global roles
Brunner holds an MBA from Boston University’s School of Management, completed Harvard University’s Executive Program in Strategic Marketing Management, and is a Fellow in the Life Office Management Association
