Esurance

Esurance Inc.

Type	Private, Part of White Mountains Insurance Group
Founded	1998
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, USA
Industry	Insurance
Products	Insurance
Revenue	$826 Million USD (2008)
Employees	Approx. 1700+
Website	www.esurance.com

Esurance Inc. is an American auto insurance provider headquartered in San Francisco, California.

History

Esurance was founded in 1998 under the name of SiliconSierra Holdings Inc. Esurance launched its Web site and started writing personal auto insurance in December 1999.

In 2000 Esurance was acquired by Folksamerica Holding Company, Inc. (a subsidiary of White Mountains Insurance Group). Esurance is now a direct subsidiary of White Mountains.

In 2008, Esurance policies in force decreased by 5%.^[1] As of 2009, Esurance offers Auto Insurance in 30 states.

Marketing

Erin Esurance

Esurance commercials are animated, and feature a pink-haired female spy named Erin Esurance, who poses as an auto-insurance agent. The character was created by Kristen Brewe, the director of brand and public relations for Esurance, and designed by artist Phil Robinson. She is voiced by Mo Mellady. The commercials are animated by W!LDBRAIN and the Ghostbot animation firms using Adobe Flash. The goal was to juxtapose a widely disliked business, insurance, with a popular superhero archetype. In her first three years, the character was used in over 30 commercials.^[2] The character was also used on an episode of Who Wants to be a Superhero?.^[3]

Esurance markets itself as being more environmentally friendly than competitors. The company often cites documents being available online in advertising. Esurance has partnered with sports teams for "Go Green" events by giving away reusable grocery bags.^[4][5] About 45% percent of the company's data is stored on outsourced servers in an LEED certified building.^[6]

References

1. ^ http://investor.whitemountains.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=103286&p=IROL-NewsText_earnings&t=Regular&id=1253043&
2. ^ Ehlers, Matt (2007-07-32). "She's one red-hot 'toon: Shapely agent in insurance ads inspires repurposed images on the Internet.". Raleigh, NC: News & Observer. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-32507592_ITM. Retrieved on 2008-07-21. 
3. ^ Snyder Bulick, Beth (2007-04-23). "Why Sci-Fi grabs more than geeks; Human-focused content, novel marketing pushes channel into mainstream". Advertising Age. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-30649810_ITM. Retrieved on 2008-07-21. 
4. ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090422&content_id=4373940&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
5. ^ http://www.nba.com/warriors/news/warriors_green_week.html
6. ^ http://www.ecotech.financetech.com/advocate/esurance-appeal.jhtml

External links

• Esurance Website