🔒Marketing push defends Hartford’s ‘insurance capital’ status as Midwest rivals gain ground

Connecticut has marketed itself as the pizza and basketball capitals of the world. Now, the state’s business leaders are mounting a campaign to defend a more economically consequential claim: Hartford is the insurance capital of the world. The MetroHartford Alliance — a nonprofit regional economic development organization — hired Avon-based marketing firm Mintz + Hoke to spearhead a rebranding campaign funded by the state Department of Economic and Community Development. The effort reflects a strategic pivot for the Alliance, which has shifted away from sponsoring industry trade shows and toward broader marketing aimed at business decision-makers and talent attraction, said Gene Goddard, the organization’s chief business investment officer. The campaign’s first phase, which focused on paid media, ended last fall. Officials said it exceeded expectations, citing a 50% year-over-year increase in web searches for the phrase “insurance capital of the world,” including from outside the East Coast. Goddard said DECD recently notified the Alliance that grant funding for the marketing effort will continue in 2026. The initiative is led by Connecticut Insurance & Financial Services, or CT IFS, a membership-driven group within the MetroHartford Alliance that includes 32 insurance and financial services companies, including Cigna, The Hartford, Travelers, Aetna, Voya Financial and Empower. Formed in 2003, CT IFS works to strengthen Connecticut’s position as a global insurance center through business attraction, workforce development and industry advocacy.

Marketing plan

The campaign’s creative strategy centers on the tagline “Infinite Possibilities From a Starting Point,” with visuals playing off the infinity symbol. Marketing materials targeted insurance and financial services decision-makers through digital advertising, social media campaigns on LinkedIn and Facebook, and placements in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal. “We want to make it obvious that Hartford is the insurance capital of the world with messaging about how the possibilities or opportunities are infinite, but there’s only one starting point, and that’s Hartford,” said Michelle Ormsby, account director at Mintz + Hoke.

The campaign included advertisements in corporate real estate publications, including Site Selection Magazine and other outlets closely watched by companies making location decisions. Campaign messaging focused on three factors that often influence corporate location decisions: workforce availability, business environment and risk mitigation. Ormsby said audience engagement extended well beyond the Northeast. “The New York metro area is a no-brainer; they’re close to us, and they’re probably going to be interested in what we’re putting out there,” Ormsby said. “But we thought it was interesting that the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago were also key locations showing interest.”

By the numbers

Hartford’s claim to the insurance capital title has always been a matter of definition. By some measures, Connecticut remains the undisputed leader. A 2024 study by Conning and data firm Lightcast found that Connecticut ranks first nationally in insurance jobs as a percentage of total employment, at 3.43%, with roughly 56,000 insurance and related full-time employees. The state also ranks first in insurance as a percentage of gross state product, contributing 4.8%, or $17.61 billion, to Connecticut’s economy. The state’s 147 domestically domiciled insurers collectively wrote $212 billion in premiums in 2024, ranking fourth nationally in total direct written premiums, according to an analysis of Lightcast data cited in the marketing materials. Other studies, however, suggest Midwest competitors are gaining ground. An October 2025 report from The New England Council used a different methodology, ranking Connecticut third in terms of the insurance industry’s contribution to gross domestic product. The Nutmeg State lagged behind Iowa and Nebraska, which have aggressively courted insurance companies with tax incentives, lower operating costs and, in some areas, less stringent regulations. The report noted that Connecticut’s share of national insurance activity has slipped, as total New England financial services employment declined to about 350,000 jobs in 2024, from roughly 385,000 a decade earlier. Hartford has faced high-profile setbacks, including Aetna’s 2018 acquisition by Rhode Island-based CVS Health and hundreds of layoffs that ensued. The number of jobs in Connecticut’s insurance sector has declined, too, dropping 15.5% between 2020 and 2024, from 43,300 to 36,600, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Conversely, Hartford has seen a number of insurers grow or move to the city in recent years, including Sun Life U.S., Global Atlantic Financial Group and Talcott Financial Group. Marketers say Hartford’s insurance identity is steeped in its history, dating back to 1810, when Hartford Fire Insurance Co. became the city’s first insurer. By the mid-20th century, Hartford was home to dozens of major insurers. The iconic Travelers Tower opened in 1919 and was briefly the tallest building in the world outside New York City. Aetna, founded in Hartford in 1853, grew into one of the nation’s largest health insurers. More recently, insurance CEOs have again emerged as civic conveners, with The Hartford CEO Christopher Swift organizing a formal committee of corporate and public leaders focused on Hartford’s long-term direction. The group also includes senior executives from Travelers, Hartford Steam Boiler, Nassau Financial Group and Aetna, among others. “This isn’t about creating a perception,” said Kara Mitchell, principal of client service at Mintz + Hoke. “Hartford is the insurance capital. The industry concentration that we have here and our historic identity is something that we wanted to make sure we brought forward very clearly through the branding and the campaign — making sure that was central to continuing to build on that equity over time.”

‘Hartford of the West’

Des Moines, Iowa has followed Hartford’s lead, branding itself as an insurance hub. It hosts several major insurers, including Principal Financial Group and Nationwide. But Des Moines’ own branding concedes Hartford’s dominance. “We found in our research that Des Moines has coined themselves as the Hartford of the West,” Ormsby said. “And we have since found that there’s merchandise that says that. So they don’t even think they’re in competition with us. They just want to be like us.” The marketers point to a travel poster at Des Moines International Airport that features the city’s skyline with the tagline “Hartford of the West” — a tacit acknowledgment that Hartford remains the standard by which other insurance centers measure themselves.

Cost advantage

Another of Hartford’s key selling points is its relative affordability for insurance companies — a claim that counters Connecticut’s reputation for high living costs and taxes. A 2023 study by accounting firm CohnReznick, commissioned by the Alliance, compared effective business tax rates and Class A office lease costs across 15 major metropolitan areas. For insurance companies, Hartford posted the second-lowest combined annual tax and lease costs at $879,000 for a hypothetical 20,000-square-foot user — $16,000 more than Des Moines. That compares with $1.27 million in Dallas-Fort Worth, $1.45 million in suburban Virginia, $1.61 million in Chicago, and $2.37 million in New York. “Hartford punches above its weight,” the CohnReznick study concluded, noting the city’s “competitive cost structures, especially regarding property taxes,” even while individual taxpayers face higher taxes. The marketing materials say Hartford’s cost of living is 31% lower than Boston’s and 66% lower than New York City’s, with rent 52% lower than Boston and 66% lower than New York. Further elevating Hartford’s stature in terms of its perception as the insurance capital of the world: it literally owns the digital real estate to support the claim. Goddard said the Alliance controls the domain name InsuranceCapitalOfTheWorld.com, and a Google search for the phrase typically leads directly to Hartford. “In the economic development world, if you own the narrative, then it doesn’t matter what anybody else says,” Goddard added, half-jokingly noting the URL “is available for $42 million if they’d like to buy it.” Goddard recounted a recent visit from a London-based insurance technology executive scouting U.S. locations. “As they were crossing the bridge from East Hartford into downtown Hartford, looking at the names on top of the buildings, they said, ‘Oh my God, this is the Disneyland of insurance,’” Goddard said. “Everybody they want to talk to is in Hartford.” That concentration of industry expertise — actuaries, underwriters, claims specialists, risk managers and insurance technology providers clustered in one metropolitan area — represents Hartford’s core competitive advantage, marketers say.

InsurTech Corridor

Part of the Alliance’s strategy involves positioning Hartford as a global innovation hub through the InsurTech Corridor, a partnership between Connecticut and the United Kingdom designed to help insurance technology startups establish operations in both markets. At the Alliance’s December 2025 annual meeting, The Floow — a U.K.-based insurance technology company specializing in telematics and driver behavior data — announced it would locate its U.S. headquarters in Hartford. The company, founded in 2012, works with major insurers including Progressive, AAA and Plymouth Rock. The Alliance believes that Hartford provides the upstart with the room it needs to grow. Ten U.K. insurtech companies have committed to opening Hartford offices through the partnership. “We’re focusing on early-stage companies that are growing fast — that can grow organically, bring some of their own people to start, and then build from there,” Goddard said.