One of the nice things about writing a blog, in addition to writing for the print edition of Insurance & Technology, is that I get to do this:

I’m currently working on a story for the next issue of Insurance & Technology on a new MassMutual Web site that seeks to recruit and retain agents by connecting visitors to the site with actual MassMutual employees and agents. The video-intensive site, in part, seeks to dispel the negative stigma attached to the insurance agent profession.

Scott Capurso, director of net field force growth at MassMutual, describes that stigma as the “Groundhog Day effect,” after the 1993 Bill Murray comedy which features some memorable appearances by a sleazy insurance agent (as seen in the above clip).

Of course, Capurso could have just as easily named the stigma “The Incredibles effect” after the digitally animated Disney film:

I guess what I found interesting about MassMutual’s project is that the company has started to fight back against those prevailing views of insurance workers – not with boring rhetoric or even with slick ad campaigns. What better way is there to dispel the negative stigma that surrounds insurance workers than with actual insurance workers?

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