Hancock Mulls Cutting Sports Marketing

Manulife Financial Corp. may cut back on some of John Hancock's high-profile sports marketing efforts, company officials said, one year after the Canadian parent acquired Boston's most well known insurer, according to The Boston Globe.

Hancock's sponsorship of the Boston Marathon will continue, executives said, but overall the company will look to reevaluate its other major marketing initiatives including its huge sign hanging in Fenway Park and sponsorship of Major League Baseball and the Olympics, said John DesPrez III, president and chief executive of John Hancock Financial Services.

"We'll continue them as long as we think they're worth what we pay for them. We'll stop them when we don't," DesPrez said. "We'll look at them from a purely business perspective."

As an alternative, the company may opt to reallocate some of that spending into television and other media, DesPrez said. The company will continue to promote the Hancock brand aggressively and does not intend to cut its advertising budget, he said.

Hancock has laid off roughly 240 employees in Boston since the merger and about 90 more left voluntarily, the Globe said. The company now employs about 3,900 people in the city. Under new leadership, Hancock has aggressive growth plans that include hiring 100 new staffers and moving its annuities unit to Boston from Connecticut.