Although finance and sports are historically male-dominated fields, this hasn’t deterred Jennifer Halloran from leaving her stamp on both industries. As the CMO and head of marketing for MassMutual, Jennifer is curbing these biases to oversee sponsorships for several of America’s largest pro sports leagues, including the MLB and NHL.
Before working with MassMutual, Halloran worked in marketing for investment companies Putnam Investments and Fidelity Investments. Her career began with finance clients at Hill Holiday and Digitas in the ‘90s.
Similar to the progress being made in sports, gender equality is also improving in financial services, though Halloran notes some of the difficulties she endured while being the only woman in the room.
“I worked at one place where there actually was still a professional dining room that was men-only for a number of years,” she explained in an interview. “It was a very old-school, very male-dominated industry. It usually has been, as long as I’ve been in it. I’ve learned how to play in that space, and I think that, in many ways, makes you a lot stronger… It teaches you where your strength is when you’re in a space where you understand how you can add value in a different way.”
Halloran applies the strengths she’s gained to MassMutual’s sports marketing program, incorporating her knowledge and experience as a former athlete to increase the company’s integration into women’s sports.
Although Halloran spent some time in sports marketing when working with Fidelity and other companies, she now fully embraces this role with MassMutual. Upon joining the firm, she was initially asked to increase brand awareness while dealing with a decreased budget in comparison to the company’s competition. However, given her sporting background, Halloran understood the importance of the live sports audience.
The CMO was raised in the now-renowned sports center of Boston, though her parents raised her and her twin brother as Pittsburgh Steelers fans given that the Patriots had not yet reached their era of dominance.
Halloran noted the efforts which went into live NHL and NFL sports marketing early in her career, eventually leading to professional leagues asking MassMutual about opportunities for sponsorships. Fast forward to today and the company is now in its sixth year of sponsoring the NFL.
In the summer of 2023, MassMutual signed off on a 10-year deal to have the Boston Red Sox sport its first jersey-patch sponsor, which Halloran likens to “basically the equivalent of a stadium naming-rights deal, although no one would ever rename Fenway Park.”
She also noted the importance of sponsorships in her budget, composing nearly 40% of it through deals such as those with the Red Sox and the NHL.
Since Halloran’s arrival at MassMutual, the company has been actively engaging in women’s sports. Halloran herself played lacrosse in both high school and at Boston College, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science. She then attended Babson College to attain an MBA in marketing. Her children are also athletic, as her son plays Division III football while her daughter played Division I lacrosse.
In 2022, MassMutual celebrated important moments in women’s history as part of a campaign honoring Title IX’s 50th anniversary, which Halloran said boosted women’s sports toward widespread recognition. Around this time, Halloran notes, women’s leagues like the WNBA and NWSL gained traction among audiences, giving MassMutual a window to gain much-wanted women clients.
“Women’s sports fans as an audience were always out there,” she explained. “We knew we were always talking to them, we were just talking to them in men’s sports.”
This year, the company has begun working with Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, a women’s sports firm, in order to develop methods for better serving women’s sports fans. Part of this development involves sponsoring Axios and Deep Blue’s TN50 event series spotlighting upcoming women’s sports businesses, though Halloran notes this collaboration’s recency, having only started in early June.
Christina Perry, head of MassMutual’s advertising and sponsorship, stated the company has doubled investments in women’s sports for 2024, noting the increase from 5% to 10% in media spending.
Perry admits that, although this increase appears small, it’s a necessary step in determining strategy with the women’s sports audience.
“We know that this audience in particular is so authentic,” she commented. “They are ready to call BS on brands just trying to glom onto the cultural relevancy that is women’s sports, so we felt it was important to have a dedicated partner that really knew the space.”
Halloran, meanwhile, stated “This is a growth market. We’ve got work to do, but the gross ratings points and the numbers are there,” expressing the desire to have MassMutual occupy a year-round presence in women’s sports akin to its relationship with men’s leagues.
Currently, the company’s plan is to emphasize collaborating with athletes over generations by providing financial assistance, using these athletes’ stories as motivation to “elevate the need for financial planning” with fans of women’s sports.
