Annuities group signs up for Rolling Stones tour

The Alliance for Lifetime Income, an organization that's trying to improve the public perception of annuity products, will be the sole sponsor of the Rolling Stones' U.S. tour later this year. The national sponsorship consists of "co-branded signage" that will highlight the Alliance, whose members include insurers and mutual fund companies, said the group's executive director, Jean Statler. She said the sponsorship will help the Alliance, which promotes annuity education, reach its target demographic, since the band's fan base is made up of people planning for retirement or in retirement. "We were certainly looking for some nontraditional way to get in front of this audience," Ms. Statler said. "What we have with the Rolling Stones is the opportunity to break through and generate that awareness with a huge group of Americans." (More: Indexed annuity sales will soon eclipse those of variable annuities: Cerulli) The Alliance will reach 1.5 million concert attendees over the course of the tour, as well as an estimated 24 million social media users, she said. Ms. Statler had no comment on the cost of the sponsorship, other than to say it was "far less [money] than a Super Bowl ad." The Stones' 16-show tour kicks off in Miami April 20. (More: Indexed annuity sales grow among wirehouses, independent broker-dealers)