Manulife Financial's Mobile Travel Packing App Wins Three International Awards

New Mobile App simplifies trip planning for customers

WATERLOO, ON, Aug. 13, 2012 /CNW/ - Manulife Financial is pleased to announce that its CoverMe™ Mobile Packing App is gaining international recognition in award competitions across North America. The Packing App, created to complement the CoverMe™ Travel mobile website, has won three awards since its release in December, including an Outstanding Mobile Application Award in the first annual MobileWebAwards Competition, produced by the Web Marketing Association.

Earlier this year, the CoverMe Packing App won two Silver Awards of Distinction in the 2012 Communicator Awards competition, including honours in the Mobile Apps Business and Mobile Apps Travel categories.

The App, designed in partnership with Delvinia, allows customers to purchase the CoverMe Travel Single Trip emergency medical insurance plan at an affordable daily flat rate, directly from their smartphones.

CoverMe.com is Affinity Market's direct-to-consumer website which has recently undergone an award-winning redesign to improve the online customer experience. The development of the mobile site and Packing App are further enhancements for online customers.

"We are proud Manulife Financial has received this international recognition for the CoverMe Packing App, which is designed to better serve our customers in the digital space," said Bob Doyle, Manulife Financial's Director, Strategic Marketing. "The Packing App has enabled us to improve the travel experience in a new way, helping customers prepare for their trips while offering a convenient option to purchase travel insurance."

The CoverMe Packing App, available for the iPhone, is designed to help travelers with the process of planning and packing for their trips. Users can download the app to create customized travel packing lists from categories like Important Documents, Clothing, Toiletries, and most importantly CoverMe Travel insurance.

Key features of the CoverMe Packing App include:

• Creating new packing lists
• Editing customized packing lists
• Accessing the existing catalogue of multiple categorized travel items
• Adding your own items
• Receiving travel packing tips
• Purchasing travel insurance

For 15 years, the Web Marketing Association has produced the annual WebAward Competition, which names the best web sites in 96 industries. For 2012, the WebAward judges chose to split out the mobile sites into a separate competition and introduced the MobileWebAwards to honor excellence in mobile Websites and apps, recognize the individuals and organizations responsible, and showcase the best in award winning mobile development.

Founded nearly two decades ago, the Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program recognizing big ideas in marketing and communications. The Communicator Awards receives more than 6,000 entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world. In 2012, the 18th annual competition saw the introduction of new online and mobile categories, making this year's awards bigger than ever.

The CoverMe Packing App can be downloaded from the iTunes Store and the CoverMe mobile site can be viewed at m.coverme.com.

About Affinity Markets
Affinity Markets is a division of Manulife Financial that offers a broad range of life, disability, creditor, health and travel insurance directly to the consumer and through professional and alumni associations, retiree organizations, financial institutions, retailers, travel groups, agents and other specialty distribution channels. With over 200 partner sponsors, insuring over 1 million Canadians, Manulife Financial's Affinity Markets is the leader in the affinity marketplace for health, life and travel insurance.

About Manulife Financial
Manulife Financial is a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. In 2012, we celebrate 125 years of providing clients strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions. Our international network of employees, agents and distribution partners offers financial protection and wealth management products and services to millions of clients. We also provide asset management services to institutional customers. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were C$514 billion (US$504 billion) as at June 30, 2012. The Company operates as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia and primarily as John Hancock in the United States.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at manulife.com.

SOURCE: Manulife Financial Corporation