Climate and Insurance.org | takefive with Kristin Brewe

Kristin Brewe is director of Brand & Public Relations for Esurance, an Internet-based auto insurance company formed in 1999. Ms. Brewe leads Esurance’s brand and communications strategy, and her team is also responsible for the company’s brand marketing initiatives.

Prior to joining Esurance, Ms. Brewe worked at SCOR, one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies, at the company’s corporate headquarters in Paris, France. She also worked in Washington D.C. at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, a non-profit organization committed to educating the public and governmental institutions about foreign policy and defense issues.

Ms. Brewe holds an M.A. in European Studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, where she was a Maria Davis Fellow. After obtaining her M.A., Ms. Brewe studied at Sciences Po, one of France’s leading educational institutions for the social sciences. Ms. Brewe graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in International Relations.

Takefive:
Esurance’s interest in the environment dates back to the company’s inception. When we first launched the company at the end of 1999, Esurance was one of the very first to offer a virtually paperless customer experience. We communicate with our policyholders electronically, and their documents are stored electronically in their accounts. The only thing people ever have to print is their insurance card—a single piece of paper.

Kristin Brewe:
Back in 1999, that lack of paper was very rare for our industry, and still is to some extent. (Even if people buy a policy online from one of our competitors, a lot of paperwork is often mailed after the policy purchase, for things like policy documents, invoices, etc.)

Esurance’s easy electronic process obviously helps our customers reduce some of the hassle inherent to the insurance process. However, another important benefit to our paperless customer experience is that our customers help save a lot of paper (along with thousands of trees in the process!).

Esurance is very proud of this extremely positive differentiating benefit of our products and services. To further demonstrate our commitment to the environment, we have also continually worked to make our operations greener and to support environmental initiatives across the United States.

In short, doing our part to protect the environment has been and remains one of Esurance’s core values.

Takefive:
Esurance has actively partnered with several environmental organizations, including the SOS Movement for a Climate in Crisis. Can you tell us what these partnerships have entailed?

Kristin Brewe:
The SOS Movement for a Climate in Crisis is the campaign that brought the world the Live Earth concerts on 7.7.07— perhaps the most participatory environmental event ever. (The concerts broke the record for a streaming event on MSN, and attendance at the actual events was equally impressive.) Our relationship with SOS is one of our most far-reaching partnerships, and kicked off with the New Jersey concert, where we offset the CO2 emissions of those who drove there.

After the Live Earth concert, we have engaged in awareness building with our co-branded SOS-themed TV and radio spots. Our SOS-themed ads encourage viewers and listeners to drive just a little less, save paper when they can, and try our co-branded Esurance Live Impact calculator. (This is a co-branded tool that helps people calculate their carbon footprints and learn easy steps to reduce their footprints.) We also invited our 450,000+ policyholders to use the tool, and got a very favorable response from those who did. The Live Earth concert organizers were also very generous in sharing their green event guidelines with us, so that we could share those with other events we sponsor. (For example, the MONOLITH Festival was a green event, and the event guidelines from Live Earth/SOS were very helpful in accomplishing that.). SOS has also helped some of our other local environmental partners get the word out about their initiatives to a wider audience, for things like Carbon Neutral Day in Washington State, Lights Out San Francisco, and more.

Those last items are just a few of the great examples of Esurance’s more locally focused partnerships. We work with a variety of environmental non-profits nationwide, and these primarily focus on reforestation and/or community education. Esurance supports these organizations in a variety of ways—with corporate funding for tree planting projects, volunteer time from our associates for plantings and community outreach, along with pro bono creative and public relations efforts for non-profit organizations. We have found that, by providing time and services to environmental non-profits, in addition to offering corporate funding, Esurance can truly help environmental organizations make lasting improvements in our communities.

Esurance has also helped our customers get involved in such efforts as well, by letting our customers know when local partners have things going on. One of our most successful promotions is our annual greenest policyholder contest, where we have our customers offer their green tips and suggestions. In April of 2007 for this contest, we asked our policyholders to specify which local environmental organizations Esurance should support. Esurance had a great response to that, as our policyholders are active in their communities in general, but particularly with green causes.

We feel that support beyond mere dollars is a part of Esurance’s corporate responsibility as it relates to the environment and to worthy causes overall. Esurance is happy to help strengthen community relationships between our customers and the great organizations who work so diligently to improve our environment.

Takefive:
Part of your ad campaign is aimed at making customers think green. What has been the reaction, and, in particular, what do your customers think of the eco-themed video game that you also developed with Monolith Productions, Inc.?

Kristin Brewe:
Esurance has had a tremendously positive reaction to our latest green advertising efforts. Most Americans believe that climate change is happening and want immediate action taken to stop it. In fact, I think the public is now starting to expect companies to help get the message out and support environmental initiatives.

Our customers have provided very positive feedback about the fact that we’re not just talking about green themes, but that we’re also offering them useful tools (like the Esurance Live Impact calculator) and practical, actionable information (like the solutions we highlight on www.esurance.com/sos). Given the scope of the environmental issues we face today, it is very important to underscore that individuals can make a difference by taking some simple actions (like using electronic documents or driving a little less). That message is even more effective when it is provided in an entertaining, engaging, and optimistic way.

In terms of “Trashblasters,” the game we developed in conjunction with the MONOLITH music festival, people enjoy getting involved with environmental issues in a variety of ways. Some involvement is more serious and some is just plain fun. The game was definitely a fun, interactive way to communicate the “reduce, re-use, recycle” message.

Takefive:
Your website mentions how esurance is trying to reduce its carbon footprint. What specifically is the company doing to make this happen?

Kristin Brewe:
Esurance is involved in several efforts to help reduce its own environmental footprint. It’s an important part of Esurance’s environmental commitment. Our claims fleet is made up of hybrid vehicles, and we also offset the electricity use for each of our 11 office locations. One of the reasons we invested in video-conferencing for our offices was to help reduce the carbon emissions related to extensive travel.

Esurance also has a green steering committee made up of interested associates from all departments at our corporate headquarters in San Francisco. This group suggests operational improvements, has informational meetings with external green experts, and is heavily involved with our green outreach. Esurance’s green steering committee is an invaluable resource. We’re just beginning to expand that steering committee to all of our offices as a part of a more far-reaching internal green campaign. Though our associates are already environmentally conscious, we have just launched an associate awareness effort to help educate people about additional things they can do to make our workplace even more environmentally friendly. (Automatic double-sided printing when printing has to happen, the replacement of disposable cups with recycled plastic water bottles and plastic mugs, etc.)

We will continue to explore and implement ways that Esurance can continue to green its operations while also providing a green experience for our policyholders.

Takefive:
Finally, what advice do you have for other insurance companies that might be thinking about becoming more environmentally and climate friendly?

Kristin Brewe:
Most important, don’t get overwhelmed. It’s easier than you think to get started. I think that, a lot of the time, people don’t make that first step in creating change because they’re afraid of the reaction they’ll get and/or they don’t know where to begin.

Our industry is dedicated to risk prevention and public safety, so it’s probably a lot easier and more logical for insurance companies to be environmentally friendly than it is for some other industries. After all, insurance companies see the numbers, and we understand the effects of climate change. Our industry knows what it means when there are increasingly intense storm seasons, more erratic widespread flooding, longer fire seasons, and the like. In much the same way our industry took leadership about getting people to wear seatbelts, I believe that the insurance industry will become a major force in working to solve the problem of climate change. Esurance is very proud to be one of the first in that regard.

So, given that framework, I’d encourage anyone to give it a shot. I’d counsel other insurance companies or any companies to start internally, and start small. Assess the ways that would be the easiest for your business to get involved, express a goal, work towards meeting that, and communicate the impact every step of the way. As you reach milestones, people will feel accomplishment and get more informed. With momentum established, you’ll be able to accomplish even more far-reaching goals.

As an example, work with operations to decrease paper use by 25 percent by year-end. If you can’t do that, just try to do it in your office or department. Once you accomplish that, let everyone know. Even a skeptic will appreciate the effect that this also has on the bottom line.