The MyTrack audience

We are writing to people across a variety of demographics in multiple different stages of their financial journey in life.

Their common denominator is that they are people who deserve our care, respect and compassion. Depending on their age and stage in life, some will be just beginning their careers, others are established in careers and entrenched in midlife, and then there are those who are on the homestretch, seeing retirement less than 10 years away. Our intention is to write to our audience in a way that is engaging, meaningful and easy to understand. Our messaging should always be reflective of them as individuals, instead of assuming they’re a captive audience who doesn’t need enjoyable content to read. We want to inform and teach them about helpful financial strategies for having the best retirement experiences they can. And with our guidance, tips and suggestions, they can proactively take steps to make it happen.

Our messaging needs to fit into people’s lifestyle, not our business processes. It should always be easy to understand and something you’d want to read yourself.

Our Voice

OneAmerica Voice Principles state that our content should be:

  • Human-Centered — We serve people. Period. What sets us apart in this industry remains our commitment to the people we serve and the genuine care with which we do that. A company built on relationships, OneAmerica speaks to our customers as people whose lives matter to us. We acknowledge them as individuals, empathizing with their needs, caring about their highs and lows and the steady times in between. Determined to develop lasting, trusted relationships, we inform them of ways we can help them now and in the future.
  • Approachable — We are more than experienced professionals in this industry. We have personality and warmth that puts our customers at ease and informs them in a calm, friendly way that is welcomed.
  • Honest — We are trustworthy and transparent, providing people information they need to make the best decisions for themselves. We don’t pester people with worrisome words of what-ifs, but we don’t sugarcoat the truth either. We’re realistic, authentic and sincere, telling it like it is and always in an easy-to-understand way.
  • Engaging — We create meaningful, lasting connections with relatable and relevant personal anecdotes. We meet people where they are in life. Our compelling words express enthusiasm and demonstrate our commitment to being there for our customers — now and well into the future.
  • Optimistic — We instill confidence using positive language, empowering people to make decisions about their financial future. We offer customers hope and tangible solutions we can help them with when facing potential life challenges.

Inclusion Guidelines

OneAmerica Voice Principles state that our content should be:

  • Ageism — Avoid assumptive language that stereotypes age groups or the mindsets, activities thereof. Life-stage scenarios make sense and are relatable in storytelling. Examples include midlife participants having expenses like weddings for their children or college tuition costs. Or for those starting their careers, retirement might seem like a lifetime away. Or those nearing retirement might be viewing expenses of home renovations for visiting adult kids and grandchildren. Avoid stereotypical shuffleboard-playing retirees who sit at a card table and puzzle all day.
  • Family Faux Pas — Modern families are all different and should appear different (yes “different,” not “differently”) than they in OA content even a few years ago. *BUT we don’t need to check every box to the point that our messaging and images seem contrived. We should be mindful of not pandering to former social constructs of what defines a family — the normalized “nuclear family” — in written and visually depicted scenarios. *Although the traditional family is NOT taboo. (We’ve all seen messaging that tries too hard and comes off looking inauthentic and patronizing.)
  • Stomp Out Stereotypes — WWe don’t need to offer obvious examples. If our content hints at the Mad Men era or other gender or diversity non-inclusive tone, it’s not our style.

Punctuation Guidelines

  • Use AP Style as a guiding principle.
    • We do not use the serial/Oxford comma in a simple series. (Ex: The red, white and blue flag waves.)
    • We use last name of a person on second reference.
    • Titles are when they PRECEDE the person’s name; titles are lowercase if they proceed the name. (Ex: President and CEO Scott Davison met with Sandy McCarthy, president of Retirement Services, prior to the conference.)
  • Use Merriam-Webster as our preferred dictionary. *And use its first spelling, not the variant of a word.
  • Do NOT add an apostrophe ‘s’ to “OneAmerica”; You can usually show possession by writing “of OneAmerica” — (Ex: The associates of OneAmerica -vs- OneAmerica’s associates …)
  • Em dashes “—“ the misunderstood marks of the symbol world “—“ (shown here) are longer than en dashes or hyphens. AP Style calls for them to be “open,” meaning they have a space before and after them.
  • Ellipses are formed by three periods, no spaces between them. They are open (having a space before the first dot and after the last dot). They express suspended or interrupted thought. You know, um … like this. Or they can indicate omitted words. Or even in speech that trails off.
  • No Sir, No Ma’am — We do not use courtesy titles (Mr. Mrs. Ms. or Dr. (unless they’re a practicing medical, dental, veterinary or optical9 physician)
  • Cut clichés — All our plates are full, but our copy doesn’t benefit from overused, trite expressions.
  • Hyphenation — See AP Stylebook or Merriam-Webster online if you’re unsure of a spelling.
  • Health Care — Two words.
  • Road Map — Two words.

Sample approved Copy blocks

MyTrack powered by OneAmerica, will help build a retirement plan you can understand, control and tailor to your needs.

The journey to financial confidence doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right financial education, personalized support from a coach and the opportunity to access additional products and solutions, you can build a financial plan that is true to who you are and where you want to be.

MyTrack allows you to maximize the benefits of your employer-sponsored retirement account for your future while building personal financial wellness today. Your customized learning journey will allow you to discover your current level of financial confidence and dive into topics such as emergency savings, planning for major life events, protecting your income and planning for your future retirement income.

MyTrack combines retirement plan saving, retirement plan education, financial wellness education and personalized service models to create a holistic support system for meeting your needs.

Words to avoid

Compliance created the following chart of words and phrases commonly flagged and suggested ways of rewording them.

Words to Avoid Reasons Approved Words
Advise and Advice Advisor Only acceptable if IAR NAIC advertising model guidelines. By OA and other standards, an advisor or planner is someone who is paid (usually a fee) to make a financial plan (may or may not sell insurance) and holds a 65 or 66 license. OK to use for IARs. Guide, guidance advisor or planner – financial professional is generally a term everyone can use; For planning- use strategies, Economics Based Strategies
Best in class Source of award needs to be available Third party recognition acceptable
Certificate (when referring to life insurance products) NAIC advertising model prohibits this. Cannot compare an insurance product (life or annuity) to a CD without extensive clarification. N/A
Charter Plan (when referring to life insurance) NAIC advertising model prohibits this. Could mislead a purchaser/ prospective purchaser of a policy to believe that he will receive/ possible will receive, something other than a policy or some benefit not available For ChFC or IAR only N/A
Consultation, consulting Review
Cutting Edge Only acceptable when talking about Care Solutions or other patented products
Deposit NAIC advertising model prohibits this. Could mislead public to mistakenly believe that premiums or annuity contributions are like bank “deposits”. With bank “deposits” the money you put in is the money you can get out. Life or annuities may have fees and/or surrender charges and therefore are not permitted to be referred to as deposits. Funds, contribute (contribution), premium payments
Ensure Depends on context Softening words: may be able to, determine if, help ensure
Entire Life In the lawsuit: Lebbin-Spector Family Trust vs. Transamerica, there were allegations that this phrase was misleading because the plaintiff lived past the endowment of policy provides protection for life
Estate planning IAR’s can use estate planning with the use of the tax and legal disclosure Non – IARs should use: estate preservation, estate conservation, estate protection