Acquired · Brand and positioning, Website, Demand and acquisition
FD Insurance
The third-largest medical malpractice insurer in Florida, squeezed from above and below. The founders were talking about a merger with layoffs. Then the numbers changed.
The situation
Third in the state behind two carriers many times their size. Then a startup began undercutting on price, and a much larger carrier was authorized to write policies 15% below their rates. The realistic option was a merger with a similar-sized competitor, and layoffs.
What we did
Found the advantage hiding in operations: detailed data on every affiliated agency, branch and agent. Built a web platform on it to earn search presence where they were strongest, rebranded, reset the messaging and cut the tactics that were not working.
What happened
New coverage written grew 50% on the year before, the merger came off the table, and a national carrier acquired them as its East Coast headquarters.
01 / The problem
Third in Florida, and getting surrounded.
They were the third-largest medical malpractice insurer in Florida, behind two competitors many times their size. That was a defensible place to be, until the market started closing in from both ends.
A startup began writing lower-cost policies. A much larger carrier won authorization to write at 15% below their rates. With a limited budget and an edge that was wearing away, the founders were preparing to merge with a competitor of the same size, and it would have meant layoffs.
02 / The approach
Their best marketing was buried in operational data.
They sold only through third-party agents, so the one branded thing a prospect ever saw was a sales brochure. The website underperformed in exactly the markets they wanted to grow into.
But operations were sitting on something nobody in marketing was using: detailed intelligence on every affiliated agency, branch and agent relationship. We built a web platform on that data to earn real search visibility in the markets where they were already strongest.
Alongside it we rebranded, and reset the messaging around one idea: working through independent agents widens your coverage rather than limiting it. And we cut the marketing that was not earning its keep.
A postcard from the campaign, and the brochure.
The merger came off the table.
The first two quarters
New coverage written in the first two quarters after launch, against the same period a year earlier.
What it changed
- Where they stood#3in Florida medical malpractice
- The price gap15%lower rates a much larger competitor was cleared to write
- The outcomeAcquiredas a national carrier’s East Coast headquarters
What we did for them
- Custom web software
- SEO built on operational data
- Rebrand
- Key messaging
- Sales analysis
- Sales material development
- Cutting ineffective tactics
Your turn.
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