Rod BrooksVP & Chief Marketing Officer, PEMCO InsurancePresident: Word of Mouth Marketing Association
Northwest Profile #38
PEMCO’s Playbook:A Challenger Brands Winning Game Plan
Who is PEMCO?
• Personal-lines mutual insurance company founded in 1949
• Serves niche market of preferred risk policyholders
• Provides coverage to ~200k Washington households
• Historically conservative and legacy oriented
• Leads with relationship
Challenges: Old and New.
• Highly regulated industry • Product perceived as a commodity• Insurance is an unsought product
Industry1
Environment2
• Consumers heavily influenced by peers, friends, even strangers online
• New & unfamiliar channels are sustaining brand conversations
PEMCO’s “WHY”
We enable and protect the dreams of responsible Northwest people.
Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?Why? Why? Why? Why?
Insurance is …The law
Not valuedNot trusted
Not well understood
Insurance is …The law
Not valuedNot trusted
Not well understood
Can only “win” by “losing”
Can only “win” by “losing”
The BHAG: Our Big Hairy Audacious Goal
PEMCO customers can’t stand the thought of friends & family doing business with anyone else.
“Never have to advertisefor a lead again”
Awareness To Advocacy
Identify, Engage, Enable, Encourage Advocates
Transaction Stage
Awareness To Advocacy
Identify, Engage, Enable, Encourage Advocates
Transaction Stage
Awareness To Advocacy
Identify, Engage, Enable, Encourage Advocates
Transaction Stage
Awareness To Advocacy
Identify, Engage, Enable, Encourage Advocates
Transaction Stage
Awareness To Advocacy
Identify, Engage, Enable, Encourage Advocates
Transaction Stage
Extensive Research Initiative
• 100 In-home Ethnographic Interviews• Important aspects of consideration• Key influences of decisions they make
Consumer Research
• Cross Functional & Multi-level Conversations • Culture, Values, and Challenges• Strengths and Opportunities
Internal Reviews
• Studied Top Twelve Companies – S.W.O.T.• Product, Price and Brand Positioning• Advertising, Messaging, Distribution and P.R.
Competitive Assessment
We talked to people like these.
FIERCELYINDEPENDENT
FIERCELYINDEPENDENT
Leaders in Innovation – Proud!
Incredibly GREENIncredibly GREEN
LOVE THE LOCAL GUYLOVE THE LOCAL GUY
Hometown HerosLocal Trumps Large
Personal Trumps Price
Hometown HerosLocal Trumps Large
Personal Trumps Price
Unique, Quirky
Unique, Quirky and COLORFUL
Our Vision
PEMCO is the Northwest insurance company that “gets it.” An organization that’s great to do business with, one that shares the values of those who live here, one that’s genuinely likeable. It’s the first choice of responsible people.
“PEMCO gets it!” – Voice of the Customer
PEMCO’s Winning Strategy
Differentiate on hyper local
Deliver world class customer experience
Drive improvement through service innovation
Different because we live, work, learn and play in the same communities.
Invest in long-term relationships with consumers through consistent engagement
Extend responsibility to build customer relationships & heed VOC across organization
PEMCO’s success depends on the positive opinion of people like me. They listen, participate, encourage and enable me to share with others.
Listen
Participate
Encourage
Enable +
Partnership
Integrated – From D.M. to Event Badges
Local & Relevant PartnershipsPEMCO, Tully’s Coffee & Children’s Hospital
Local & Relevant PartnershipsPEMCO, Seahawks & Sounders FC
Act Local - To Be Local!Where they live, work, learn and play.
Act Local - To Be Local!Where they live, work, learn and play.
Act Local - To Be Local!Where they live, work, learn and play.
Act Local - To Be Local!Where they live, work, learn and play.
In 2010, PEMCO sponsored or participated in more than 100 events across Washington.
PEMCO Brand Ambassadors
W.A.L.L.Y. Is On The Move
The BHAG: Our Big Hairy Audacious Goal
PEMCO customers can’t stand the thought of friends & family doing business with anyone else.
“Never have to advertisefor a lead again”
BHAG Sounds Great: But How?
Build engagement opportunities by enabling audiences to:
Do Something1
Share Something2
Get Something3
BHAG Sounds Great: But How?
Build engagement opportunities by enabling audiences to:
Do Something1
Share Something2
Get Something3
BHAG Sounds Great: But How?
Build engagement opportunities by enabling audiences to:
Do Something1
Share Something2
Get Something3
Develop A Game Plan:
Empowering Guidelines
Boot Camps
Familiar Tools
Access To Voice
Social Media Guidelines
• Clear statement of purpose• Inform and reassure
reluctant stakeholders• Establish engagement
expectations • Educate employees on
best practices
Appease reluctant stakeholders and empower employees
Boot Camps
Increase familiarity & comfort of employees
• Explain guidelines• Tutorials provide a step-by-step
how-to approach• Examples demonstrate
consumer use • Case studies explore social
media engagement and suggested responses
Finding The Right Tools
Reduce communication barriers with employee networking tools
Share Voice of the Customer 1
Empowering Employees
Reduce communication barriers with employee networking tools
Share Business Ideas2
Real Time News Updates
Reduce communication barriers with employee networking tools
Share News and Updates3
It’s Not ALL Business
Reduce communication barriers with employee networking tools
Foster Employee Community4
Ratings and Reviews
• Give back office employees access to customer voice
• Celebrate & share your success stories
• Learn from mistakes andconsistently improve
• Own the results
Increase customer-focus through direct access to Voice of the Customer
• Start every meeting with a customer story!
When Paul learned that his dream home had been burglarized and stripped of $10,000 of new hardware, he didn’t know where to turn. Though a unfortunate setback to the project, Shelly from PEMCO helped make a quick decision and the project moved forward on time.
Getting hit by another driver is never a pleasant experience, but when it’s Memorial Day weekend, during rush hour traffic while you’re on your way to a job interview the experience can be downright traumatic. Though Carole hopes to never be involved in accident like this again, she knows if she is, PEMCO has her covered.
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Thanks to our partners for their many contributions to our success!
EVERGREEN MEDIA, INC.
Case Studies: Helping you become a better WOM marketer.
Ethical Leadership - Best Practices – Measurable ROI
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School of WOM – May 9 thru 11
Swissotel, Chicago
A Shameless Plug “To advance the discipline of credible
word of mouth marketing – both online and offline.”
www.womma.org
Let’s ConnectTwitter: @NW_Mktg_GuyFacebook: Rod BrooksBlog: www.rodbrooks.com