Day One - The Power of Branding - What's PICA's Brand?

Here is a summary and application of the branding session with John Males, as told by vice chairman, Patrick:

I think this post might be a great way to get some interaction going with members while also serving as a recap of "The Power of Branding" presentation from John Males of Fathom Corporate Training. We were fortunate that John also brought along his lovely wife, Elena, who provided additional insight to the presentation.

I was personally interested in what John had to say to see how it related to the rebranding process my company, Grange Insurance, recently went through. It was also a nice "take back" to the office, knowing that we had independent confirmation that we did a good job.

We began by looking at some well-known brands and thinking about what they represented. The underlying idea, though, was to also think about the brand of each of our own companies and try to see how they stood up. And if I've heard it once in the past six months I've heard it a thousand times, and that's the idea that "a brand is not just a logo." John also joined in that refrain, adding it's also not just colors, tag lines, fonts or templates.

A strong brand communicates very well both internally with associates or members, and externally with customers. In essence, a brand is a reflection of who you are and what you stand for.

This is where I'd like to see some input from you in the comments section: What is the PICA brand? Who do you think we are, and what do we stand for as insurance communicators? Do we need to better develop our brand and, if so, would that be an exercise that we could undertake at our next workshop in Honolulu? (Just seeing if you were paying attention - we won't be going to Hawaii anytime soon.)

If you attended the workshop, could you take a few minutes to review John's presentation and see how it applies to PICA? Or, in lieu of that, anyone should be able to answer the questions above. Whether or not you can convince your company to go through a branding exercise, I think we can all benefit by doing it ourselves with an organization that we care about. What makes PICA special? How are those who aren't members missing out? How can we attract new members to the organizatioin?

That's what I want to know, along with your thoughts about doing a PICA branding exercise next year. I look forward to some good feedback!

-Patrick

Day One - The "I" Does Stand for "Insurance"

Here is a recap of our first presentation - April 27, 2009 - as written by PICA, Inc. Vice Chairman, Patrick:

As the insurance industry is hardly immune from the financial difficulties of the rest of the country, PICA workshop members were presented with an overview of what's taking place industry wide from Glen Cryan and Beverly Messer of the National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research.

As Chief Operating Officer of The National Alliance, Glen took the group through a number of issues that will affect companies and consumers going forward. One huge issue, of course, is the beating that many company portfolios are taking as a result of the drop in the stock market. Since companies use stocks as a way of adding to surplus, these significant drops in the market have resulted in large surplus losses for many carriers. These surplus losses could prove vital in the wake of severe catastrophe losses. Credit issues that affect consumer insurance scores may also catch the eye of legislators in various states and may result in calls for further limitations on the use of this discount tool for consumers.

Glen also noted the PR hit the industry as a whole has taken as a result of the AIG bailout, even though AIG's insurance operations were not the cause of its problems. As a result, "AIG's issues become everyone's issues," he said.

Beverly is the Vice President of Education & Research and, as a former two-time agent of the year, also brought a unique agent perspective to PICA members. As you might expect, she notes that it's important for companies to listen to agents for a number of reasons, including to find out more about consumer concerns.

She also reiterated a point that we, as insurance communicators, need to take back to our offices and repeat to management: The industry needs to do a better job of reporting all the good things the industry does, instead of sitting back and letting the media dictate the story and only report bad things. After all, as Beverly noted, nothing happens without insurance. Or, even better, her direct quote was that "insurance companies are the enablers of people's dreams."

So get back to your management, and let people know about your teen driving programs, or safety enhancements and support of organizations like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and even the work of your SIU teams to save policyholders money through the detection of insurance fraud. Most companies also invest heavily in their communities, supporting good works that make a location a home. Finally, what about all the jobs the industry provides? Many companies have tightened their belts, but still there are a lot of grateful employees working in the insurance industry who are thankful for their paychecks these days.

Thanks again to Glen and Beverly for spending time with us in Austin. It was good information that resulted in a spirited discussion after their presentations, and we're better insurance communicators for having been a part of it.

- Patrick

We're Back!

Hello, PICA People!

The Austin Workshop was a HUGE success and over the next week, we'll post about what we learned and did while in Austin.

For those of you who attended, it will be a trip down Memory Lane and a nice way to recap your professional development as you share your knowledge with your managers and co-workers.

For those of you who couldn't join us, the posts will be a great way to brush up on what you've missed!

So stay tuned, and thank you for your continued interest, support and dedication.

--Kirsten