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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Let’s ConnectTwitter: @NW_Mktg_GuyFacebook: Rod BrooksBlog: www.rodbrooks.com