Esurance Insurance Services, Inc. is an American
insurance
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
company. It sells auto, home, motorcycle, and renters insurance direct to consumers online and by phone. Founded in 1999, the company was acquired by
Allstate
The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...
in 2011.
History
Esurance was founded in 1999 by Jean-Bernard Duler, Jeffrey L. Goodman, Huyen Bui, David Griffin, and Charles Wallace, and became one of the first insurance companies to sell policies directly to consumers over the internet, instead of using in-person meetings or phone calls.
In 2000, Esurance was acquired by
Folksamerica Holding Company, a subsidiary of
White Mountains Insurance Group
White Mountains Insurance Group is a diversified insurance and related financial services holding company based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Redomiciled from Delaware, United States, on October 25, 1999, the company conducts most of its business throu ...
. Esurance, which is based out of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, had by that time expanded to offering policies in 24 states, but had also just laid off staff and was actively soliciting a purchaser.
In 2004, Esurance began to offer multi-car discount packages to same-sex couples, by offering multi-car discounts to any group of people that lived together. The company claims to be one of the first insurers to have offered such packages to same-sex couples.
In May 2011,
Allstate
The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...
announced that it was purchasing Esurance and rate-comparison site
Answer Financial
The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook, Illinois, Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still ...
for approximately $1 billion. At the time, Esurance was selling policies in 30 states and was in the midst of a five-year growth period that saw them double the number of policies in force. Allstate, for its part, was losing policy holders to the three major online policy retailers: Esurance,
Progressive, and
GEICO
The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is a private American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owne ...
. Allstate's acquisition of Esurance was completed in October of that year. The combined company became the sixth-largest provider of auto insurance policies. In September 2012, White Mountains filed a lawsuit against Allstate alleging that Allstate failed to meet a deadline to produce a
financial audit
A financial audit is conducted to provide an opinion whether "financial statements" (the information is verified to the extent of reasonable assurance granted) are stated in accordance with specified criteria. Normally, the criteria are internat ...
that was part of the sale, and that Allstate deducted $5.2 million in legal expenses from the value of the sale that they were not allowed to deduct by the terms of the agreement.
In December 2019, Allstate announced that it would phase out Esurance in 2020 in order to streamline business operations.
In April 2020, Allstate announced that a 15% refund will be forwarded to clients of Esurance due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Marketing campaigns
Esurance's first television advertising campaign was launched five years after the company went live. The campaign was aimed at the 18 to 24-year-old male demographic, and had a budget of $60,000, a tiny fraction of the over $1 billion spent on advertisements within the insurance industry. The commercials featured an animated character named Erin Esurance, a pink-haired spy inspired by
Sydney Bristow
Sydney Anne Bristow (played by Jennifer Garner) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the television series ''Alias''. She is an American woman with a Russian-Canadian family background who works as a spy for the CIA.
Sydney is depi ...
from the television show ''
Alias
Alias may refer to:
* Pseudonym
* Pen name
* Nickname
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film
* ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006
* ''Alias the ...
.''
The character and campaign were initially well received, leading to over 30 separate advertisements featuring Erin, and a dramatic increase in brand awareness. However, by 2009 industry polling on corporate mascots found Erin had become unpopular with viewers; 30% of viewers found the character annoying – double the industry average – and was below industry average in sincerity and believability.
Polling found Erin was less popular than even Microsoft's notorious character
Clippy
The Office Assistant is a discontinued intelligent user interface for Microsoft Office that assisted users by way of an interactive animated character which interfaced with the Office help content. It was included in Microsoft Office for Window ...
.
Additionally, a large number of pornographic
images featuring Erin were created, and in some cases sold, by fans of the character. The illustrations became so prevalent that when the character was searched for by name without mature content filters enabled, the vast majority of results were pornographic.
The combination of decreasing popularity and the pornographic images led to the character being retired by 2010.
After the mascot Erin was discontinued in 2010, Esurance launched a new advertising campaign designed by the firm Duncan/Channon. By this point, the company had an advertising budget of $100 million.
Set in a fictionalized version of the Esurance office, but featuring actual Esurance employees (although Erin Esurance makes a background appearance) the commercials emphasized both the company's high tech platform and the personal touches offered by speaking to employees. The campaign was a deliberate break from focusing the advertisements on the 18–24 male demographic.
The new campaign was short lived; in December 2011, Esurance announced another new advertising campaign. It emphasized efficiency and positioned the company as "Insurance for the Modern World"; the target demographic was families and professionals in the 25–49 age group.
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office''. He also served as a producer and occasional director of the series throughout its nine ...
narrated the commercials, which were developed by ad agency
Leo Burnett Worldwide
Leo Burnett Worldwide, Inc., also known as Leo Burnett Company, Inc., is an American advertising company, founded on August 5, 1935, in Chicago by Leo Burnett.
In September 2002, the company was acquired by Publicis Groupe, the world's third l ...
.
Esurance also markets itself heavily through sports teams and sporting events, where it casts itself as being more
environmentally friendly
Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...
than competitors. The company has sponsored a number of sporting events and teams, including the
US Open tennis tournament, the
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...
, and the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
.
In February 2015, Esurance released their
Super Bowl XLIX
Super Bowl XLIX was an American football game played to determine the champions of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2014 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Conf ...
commercial, featuring
Bryan Cranston
Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor and director who is best known for portraying Walter White in the AMC crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and Hal in the Fox sitcom ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2 ...
parodying his
Walter White Walter White most often refers to:
* Walter White (''Breaking Bad''), character in the television series ''Breaking Bad''
* Walter Francis White (1893–1955), American leader of the NAACP
Walter White may also refer to:
Fictional characters
...
character from ''
Breaking Bad
''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...
''. In April 2015, Esurance and
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
announced a new multi-year sponsorship in which Esurance will be the exclusive auto insurance partner for Major League Baseball.
Esurance introduced a new ad campaign featuring
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor known for a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the late 1970s, some of his notable credits include ''Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The ...
(in his first-ever appearance in a commercial, and the company's first use of a real-life spokesman) as a tongue-in-cheek "highly likeable" spokesperson in August 2018. The company introduced a new slogan, "surprisingly painless", as part of the rebrand.
References
External links
Esurance website{{Automotive industry in the United States
Allstate
Companies based in San Francisco
Insurance companies of the United States
Online insurance companies
Auto insurance in the United States
American companies established in 1999
Financial services companies established in 1999
2011 mergers and acquisitions
Financial services companies of the United States
1999 establishments in California