WASHINGTON, January 9, 2008 – The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents has announced that sponsorship of its award-winning agent branding program, Local Agents Serving Main Street America (SM), has reached 50 insurance carriers.
“We are pleased that in just over one year since its inception, the PIA Branding Program has grown at an exponential rate,” said PIA Executive Vice President & CEO Len Brevik. “Our branding program has also received four very prestigious awards, including two MarCom Awards.”
“By signing on as sponsors of the PIA Branding Program, carriers demonstrate their commitment to the success of the independent agency distribution system and the continuing prosperity of their professional agent sales force,” Brevik said.
PIA’s Local Agents Serving Main Street America (SM) branding program is an advertising and promotional campaign available at no additional cost to all PIA member agencies throughout the nation. The program currently consists of twenty-one print advertisements with 251 variations that PIA members can run in their local publications.
The PIA Branding Program’s advertisements reinforce the position of PIA members in their local insurance marketplace as local agents who offer personal support and service, as well as a choice of policies from many companies to better fit their customers’ needs.
“The PIA Branding Program does not attempt to create a new identity for PIA members,” said Brevik. “Our agents have never needed a new identity. They already have one that is clear and positive with consumers: they are Professional Insurance Agents. Their customers know who they are. They’re local and they care.”
The PIA Branding Program, Local Agents Serving Main Street America (SM), simply extends the reach of that already-established identity with a coordinated, high-quality advertising and promotional campaign that highlights what Professional Insurance Agents bring to the table.
Each of the PIA Branding Program’s advertisements can also be printed for use as flyers or as inserts in publications. The ads are available in a variety of sizes, in color as well as black and white.
The PIA Branding Program is free to PIA members as part of their membership dues in the association. There is also no fee to carriers wishing to participate as sponsors.
Sponsors of the PIA Branding Program are:
Adirondack Insurance
AIG Agency Auto*
American Commerce Insurance Company*
Associated Mutual Insurance Cooperative
Auto-Owners Insurance Company*
Bankers Insurance Group
Bristol West Insurance Group*
Celina Insurance Group*
Central Insurance Companies*
Colonial Cooperative Insurance Company
Columbia Insurance Group*
Commercial Mutual Insurance Company
Cornerstone National Insurance Company
The Cumberland Insurance Group
Fremont Insurance Company
German Mutual Insurance Company*
GMAC Insurance Management Corporation
Grange Insurance
The Hanover Insurance Group
Harleysville Insurance*
The Hartford*
Hastings Mutual Insurance Company
Hermitage Insurance Company
Home Mutual Fire Insurance Company
The IMT Group
Insurance House*
Interboro Insurance Company
Iowa Mutual Insurance Company
Magna Carta Companies
Merchants Insurance Group
Mercury Insurance Group
MetLife Auto & Home*
Motorists Insurance Group*
National Security Fire and Casualty Company
New Jersey Skylands Insurance
Northern Neck Insurance Company*
Ohio Casualty*
Palisades Safety and Insurance Management Corporation
Pekin Insurance
Penn National Insurance
Progressive Casualty Insurance Company*
Ramsgate Managing Insurance
Rutgers Casualty Insurance Company
Southern Insurance Underwriters*
State Auto Insurance Companies*
Sublimity Insurance Company
Unitrin Specialty*
Utica First Insurance Company
The Western Reserve Group
Westfield Insurance*
(*) denotes charter sponsor.
“The PIA Branding Program is a win-win for PIA members and the companies they represent,” Brevik said. “PIA members benefit from the attractive advertisements that stress the qualities America’s insurance buyers find most important. Carriers benefit by being able to support the advertising and branding initiatives of their PIA appointed agents, ensuring growth now and in the future.”
Additional information about the PIA Branding Program for both PIA members and interested carriers is available here.
Founded in 1931, PIA is a national trade association that represents member insurance agents and their employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance, but specialize in coverage of automobiles, homes and businesses. PIA members are Local Agents Serving Main Street America (SM). PIA’s web address is www.pianet.com.