Playing to the Stereotype: Four Insurance Branding Lessons from the New Jersey Governor

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From modest beginnings in New Jersey, a larger-than-life politician has emerged onto the national stage: Governor Chris Christie. And he’s brought along branding experiences that apply to insurance.

Christie was criticized by opponents as an underqualified political appointee and a legal lightweight when he was nominated by President George W. Bush to the post of U.S. Attorney for the State of New Jersey. During Christie’s tenure from 2002 through 2008, the U.S. Attorney’s office won convictions or pleas of guilty from 130 public officials (state, county and local), both Democratic and Republican — without losing a single case.

Among the convicts: County executives for bribery and corruption, a former state senate president for mail fraud and tax evasion, and a former mayor of one of the state’s largest cities for fraud.

Christie swept through the New Jersey political world like a nor’easter storm. He put public corruption in the prosecutorial cross-hairs (although many believe that money still plays an outsized role in Jersey politics, but that’s another story).

In the runup to the 2012 presidential election,Christie is campaigning nationally for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, after passing up his own campaign for the Republican nomination.

Putting aside whether you, politically speaking, flock to or flee from the New Jersey governor’s positions and record (and Republicans in general and Romney in particular), Chris Christie offers an object lesson in branding:

Playing to your stereotype can work.

Case in point: The Star-Ledger, the state’s largest newspaper, reported that the governor stumped for Romney before the Iowa Republican caucuses on New Year’s Eve, telling the crowd of voters:

“If you don’t do what you’re supposed to do for Mitt Romney on Tuesday [Jan. 3, 2012, the day of the caucuses],” Christie said, defiant in only a suit jacket against the biting cold and wind-whipped rain, “I will be back, Jersey-style, people. I will be back.“

A few hours later in Cedar Rapids, Christie was unrelenting in an interview: “I hope they’ve taken me seriously because I will come back here plenty angry if they don’t do the right thing on Tuesday night. So they don’t want that. They’ve seen that. It’s not good.” [bold type added]

“Jersey style” indeed.

If there’s anything more stereotypical about New Jersey than hinting at rearranging kneecaps, it’s probably only comments about toxic waste, oil refineries and traffic. (Of course, having lived here since age 5, among my favorite stereotypes about the Garden State are the Appalachian Trail, the Battle of Trenton in the Revolutionary War, the Pine Barrens (at 1.1 million acres, it makes up 22 percent of New Jersey’s land mass), my alma mater Rutgers, and 127 miles of ocean beaches. And great pizza in every town. But I digress.)

It’s not just a brash tone and combative stance against critics that Christie brings to his personal branding effort. Like him or not, Christie brings a track record to back up the trash talk. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt took a policy stance of “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Christie’s stance might be described as speaking bluntly and smacking a big proverbial stick against his hand.

The outspoken governor of the ninth-largest state attracts a lot more media attention, of course, than an independent agent, a mid-sized insurance carrier, or an insurance trade association. And underlying any of Christie’s words is plenty of political calculation, to be sure. But there’s little doubt he plays to his own stereotype. Insurance marketing decision-makers might put aside the political elements and consider the following:

1. Do well at what you do. Christie batted a thousand in public corruption cases; that gave him credibility. Lesson: Don’t shy away from talking about what you do well just because others do something similar. And don’t take it for granted. What have you excelled at? Do you pay claims faster than others in the industry? Is your service measurably better than the competition? Are you good at handling specialized risks of some type?

2. Consult the team. Christie is reported to have developed a cadre of loyal advisers that bridge his various political jobs, and to reach out to them for insights and perspectives before making decisions. Lesson: Listen to people smarter than you. Who do you ask for advice? Are you doing something for them?

3. Stick to your guns. Maybe guns is a, er, loaded term But you get the point. Lesson: Stick to what you believe, because the going’s going to get rough. What challenges are likely to come your way? Maybe you’ve experienced fussy claimants, balky prospects and reluctant business partners. What can you learn and share about these business developments?

4. Say it. Tell it like you are. Lesson: If you’re doing what you believe in, be willing to talk about it. What would you say about yourself if you were in front of a group of people that know you but maybe don’t really know what you do and what you’ve done?

At Aartrijk, one of our Jersey-based clients is American Collectors Insurance, which in its brand audit several years ago discovered one of the valued capabilities it offered its customers and agent partners is that its employees (which it calls “brand ambassadors”) are always available via phone. That’s right, they’re fighting phone-tree hell. It sounded trite at first, but the company’s leaders realized that availability mattered. So the brand developed a “real person guarantee” and promised that callers to its hotline could always push “0″ on the telephone keypad to get a “real person” without waiting long. Goodbye, phone tree. Hello, answers from a live person.

 What’s your stereotype? How can it work for you?

Extreme Makeover: Agency Edition

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Maybe you saw the show just once. Maybe you were a regular. Either way, you liked it: the now-cancelled reality show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

Admit it—you even squirted some tears when host Ty Pennington says via a megaphone, “Move that bus!” And the bus rolls away to reveal a new home to a lucky and needy family—built in seven days by the show’s staff and local volunteers, using donated materials.

Extreme Makeover is on my mind as I hear conversations in a working group called “Agency of the Future,” with the Agents Council for Technology. I even occasionally sport a Ty-style soul patch on my chin. (Until the mocking gets to be too much; then I shave it off.)

On a serious note, the whole “makeover” topic hit me last year when I met an agency owner at a conference, and he relayed the following exchange with his son:

Dad: “When are you going to join the agency? You’re out of college and this is a great career.”

Son: “Why would I work there, dad? It looks like a nursing home…. It even smells like a nursing home.”

Ouch.

If I really were the Ty of this industry, I’d figure out a way to get a work crew to that agency. Here are some things we’d work on—once we send the agency staff and ownership off to Aruba for a week:

• Roll in a big dumpster, and rip out all the old shag carpeting, beaten-down furniture, yellowish ceiling tiles, dark paneled walls, file cabinets (what, you’re not paper-free yet?), and crusty old drapes and blinds. Essentially, we’ll carry out anything that smells bad.
• Install some beautiful new window treatments—maybe even install some new windows, period.
• Speaking of windows: Natural light is inspiring, sure, but sometimes you need some help from Thomas Edison. We’ll hang some cool lights a la Starbucks.
• Fresh paint and carpeting, and maybe some Italian tile or gorgeous wood floors in certain areas.
• Recreate the workspace for private offices and also some new community areas where folks can collaborate. Add a commercial-grade latte machine. The smell of coffee—captivating! Customers are invited also; even the cranky walk-ins won’t be as cranky.
• If the lobby isn’t inviting, we’re going to open up the entire front of the building so it looks like someplace you’ll want to walk into—and work at.
• We’re also going to blow up the online office—the agency’s website. The new site will impress prospects of all ages.
• Everyone gets new computers—maybe a total makeover to Macs—along with mobile devices such as iPads or iPhones. Let’s make the place look like a darn-cool, high-tech start-up, not an agency from the 1970s. Bring on the Cloud!
• We’ll even repave the parking lot—woo-hoo—and we’ll put up new, well-lit outdoor signage that looks like it belongs in 2012, not 1912.
• We’ll even hire a Social Media Manager for the agency. She’s champing at the bit waiting for the staff to return from Aruba to start the online conversation with prospects and customers—and she already knows that, no, we do not post photos of Sally from processing on the beach with a red cup.

I would be so excited to make this all happen for that agency principal. I’ll bet, too, that his son would reconsider his comments.

What is one thing you would demolish and start over in your independent agency? Cast a Ty-ish eye and try to see the agency how others might see it. Then, change something and “move that bus!” so you can see how much better it looks after renovations.

PS. If you want some ideas for your corporate—or personal—brand makeover, come to Brand Camp.

Brand Indigestion

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Someone has to do it. No one wants to go there. But I must, I must.

It’s time for the full truth about “Anatomy of a Brand.”

By now one hopes you are well aware of what I believe is a rather brilliant theme for the upcoming 2012 Aartrijk Brand Camp (May 7-9 in beautiful Boulder, Colo. But I digress.

“Anatomy” lends itself immediately to potent analogies about brand “headaches,” “strength” and “hearing.” Creative minds quickly picture the potential of their brand as a glowing “ripped” body shining with healthy muscle, like those folks you see pictured in promos for Gold’s Gym or the latest miracle exercise machine.

But anyone who has been to a real gym knows human anatomy also has an ugly dark side. Where is the discussion of brand “flab,” brand cellulite or brand “waste.” Dare I say (dare! dare!) some brands may be full of … but I digress.

Yes, my friends, it’s great to think of your brand as a living organism. Yet, you don’t need even the slightest remembrance of high school biology to know that putting even the most wondrous items into your body means sometime, somewhere, something must come out. It’s all part of a healthy digestive process: to absorb precious nutrients and materials needed for proper function, repair and growth, while regularly removing the unnecessary or wasteful byproducts.

Permit me to suggest two possibilities—and risk management dictates I ask you to please set aside your lunch if necessary—where this otherwise healthful branding process may go awry:

• Brand Indigestion. You recently went to a seminar or read a newsletter that was the branding equivalent of attending a Midwest state fair. Excitement, the crowds and the music override your good sense. It’s not the food itself; it’s that what should be the opportunity to try something new or revisit something old turns into a gluttonous orgy Henry VIII would envy. You barely wash down your pork-chop-on-a-stick with that mason jar of lemonade before attacking the chocolate-covered bacon, fried Kool-Aid and cotton candy. Soon your stomach is telling your brain, “Ever hear of moderation, idiot? Forward or backward, I want all of this out of here now!” Brand Alka Seltzer, anyone?
• Brand Irregularity. You are great at ingesting new ideas and possibilities. But the body that adds and never subtracts is soon going to suffer brand “discomfort.” Oh, heck, we’re all adults here: brand “constipation.” This is the firm that admirably jumps into blogging and tweeting but just can’t let go of that Yellow Page ad. Some organizations’ strategies are so bloated, their brands first needs a “cleanse” (okay, enema) before moving on to a healthy, balanced new diet. The opposite of this, of course, is the organization with brand diarrhea: potentially great ideas regularly enter the body but, due to either lack of patience or just a love of the next new thing, pass through and out the other organizational end before any positive impact can be absorbed.

Does your brand anatomy need a few days at the spa? A session with a professional trainer? Suggestions on effective probiotics or techniques? A support group of fellow brand bodybuilders to share the workout? A complete cleanse prior to a healthy reboot?

Maybe Brand Camp is just the ticket (did I mention May 7-9 in beautiful Boulder? Regardless, your brand body needs a healthy digestive system to process the best from the current and new while regularly removing the harmful and expired.

And as any older and experienced brand can tell you, when it comes to anatomy, a “ripped” body may temporarily cool, but a “regular” body is a joy forever!

Learning to Adapt

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“Digital Darwinism – The evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to exploit it.” – Brian Solis

What a great term—Digital Darwinism—to describe the fear many agencies and carriers feel as they struggle at make sense of the many challenges they face in today’s rapidly evolving environment.

Mobile, cloud, and social technologies are evolving faster than ever. These technologies are also transforming our society and giving rise to a new empowered and connected consumer. The reference to Darwin suggests that failure to adapt eventually will lead to the demise of the business of insurance, as we know it.

I believe that the challenge facing our industry is not just about making sure agents have blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and are using Pinterest to curate relevant business information. Yes, it is important to learn how to effectively use new technology.

But it is critical to pay close attention to the evolution of consumer behavior and ultimately understand how to engage with the new connected consumer.

The technologies that are fueling all the disruption can, when effectively used, provide a window into the psyche of the consumer and provide the means to connect and engage. But real success will require an organization to change its work and evolve its brand. That is, become a social business. For example, engaging in social technologies must become more than a marketing department project. Today, consumers are demanding that their business partners be transparent, accessible, open, socially responsible, and honest. They want to feel that they know their favorite brands on a personal or personalized level. These traits become woven into the fabric of the agency—and every employee plays a part.

Keeping up and adapting to new technology and the changing demands of customers and prospects has always been a challenge. What is different today is that advancements in technology and changes in consumer behavior are happening “scary” fast.

Future success isn’t just about the latest technology. Rather, it’s about cultural transformation and market disruption. How an organization recognizes and adapts to new opportunities will determine its future viability. How are you learning to adapt?

Making the Impersonal Personal

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When I first began interviewing after grad school, I was determined to land a job on my own. I had yet to grasp the importance of personal connections and introductions. While I did manage to nab that first position, the skids to subsequent jobs have definitely been greased by valuable contacts, because ultimately, people feel more comfortable with people they know directly or meet through first-hand introductions.

And it’s not just job searches that are impacted by existing relationships. That’s why “old fashioned” sales involved a lot of one-on-one contact, golf games, dinners, “schmoozing.” But now so much business is conducted over the internet. Is the ability to create a connection lost? No, but it certainly has changed.

If you consider the “evolution” of online business, you can see why social media has become so important. The first shoe dropped when email arrived. If you’re old enough, you remember the initial reluctance of many to put down the phone and pick up the mouse. Now, a ringing phone is often perceived as a nuisance. Weekly client visits were once the norm. Many have been replaced with weekly conference calls instead. Conventions have been supplanted by webinars. Nearly everyone works with at least one individual they’ve never met in person, only through technology.

What social media allows is the ability to fill the void created by lost one-on-one interaction. It provides a shortcut to communities and information and connections. It allows individuals to find their niche and quench their need for contact without leaving their desk. And if you’re not actively engaged with social media, but your business relies on relationship building and interaction (and what business doesn’t), you need to be getting on board. Right now, Boomers are the majority of the workforce. Did you know in just eight years—eight years! —Millenials will be the largest group in the workforce? (Poor Generation X never gets its shot at majority status). Millenials don’t remember the days of lunch meetings and golf games. They connect hourly online. And you need to be there when they’re ready with an inquiry, a question, a comment.

So stop thinking of the computer as a sterile piece of technology. Consider it your voice. Consider it your opportunity to extend a handshake, albeit electronically. Engage with your customers and learn about their interests and concerns beyond the obvious connection to what you’re selling. Yes, it’s about business, but business is ultimately about people. Be genuine. Be engaged. Be yourself.