ShelterPoint Life: New York’s First Rehab Life Unfolds Fresh Brand, Bright Plan for National Expansion Art Shea
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ShelterPoint Life New York’s First Rehab Life Unfolds Fresh Brand, Bright Plan for National Expansion
New York’s familiar First Rehab Life Insurance Company (First Rehab) has adopted a fresh, new banner as it sets sail on a full scale effort to attract a national audience. The venerable Long Island-based resource that has served agents and brokers for 42 years with a name that has demanded an explanation to its several constituencies many thousands of times, will now be known simply as ShelterPoint Life Insurance Company. The Company’s former name evolved from the interest of its founder, the late Dr. Donald Goldberg, MD, a wellknown orthopedist for whom rehabilitation was part of the focus for the Company’s first product concept.
Today, newly-branded ShelterPoint, with no change in ownership or management, is the largest writer of New York State Statutory Disability Insurance (DBL) with currently over $70 million in covered premium* and more than 150,000 covered employers for this line of business alone, all of which has been sold exclusively by independent insurance agents and brokers. The company has been a familiar fixture on the insurance scene since its founding and has developed a loyal producer following through old-fashioned field level contact and exceptional service. The level of the Company’s acumen is evidenced by the fact that it has operated DBL profitably. DBL, of course, is a line of business that has lower margins than most.
ShelterPoint Life will now expand nationally through its newly-acquired subsidiary, a Florida-domiciled insurance carrier that is licensed in 48 jurisdictions. The blueprint for growth includes the development of new products positioned for success in today’s changing health insurance marketplace and a stepped-up effort in web-based features/ tools that will empower producers, policyholders, and members alike.
Seasoned insurance executive, Richard White, CEO of ShelterPoint, calls the name change “reflective”: “As we have evolved over our 42 year history, it is time to go with a name that is more reflective of who we are and what we do today. We chose a name that expresses our mission of offering benefits that are simple, to the point, and which embrace our commitment to shelter our clients. At the same time, we are growing rapidly, having just acquired a company that is licensed in 48 states. We sought a name that illustrates our next chapter and will give us a nationwide identity. It’s a very exciting time for our entire team and will prove to be an increasingly compelling plan for our producers,” he stated. According to Mr. White, the new name was chosen from among 250 options that the project team conceptualized, “Along with the new name, it was time for a new corporate visual identity that reflects the new chapter in the company’s history, including a new logo and a fresher look of materials and collateral,” added Katrin Atienza, AVP Marketing and Rebranding Project Manager. “The overall goal for the new corporate visual identity was to be simple, clean, modern, symbolically reflective of the new name, and to mesh well with the industry while standing out of the crowd. Our team completed this with a small but strong, can-do-all, in house team over several months. Crowdsourcing was one of the tools we had to leverage a lot: we used crowd sourced focus groups and surveys during the name and logo selection,” she continued.
The icon component of the final logo reflects the name in form of a map pin that points to the “point of shelter” and incorporates a cut-out “S” that is “sheltered” by the shape of the pin. From a policyholder’s perspective, the name change means business as usual. To ease the transition, however, all ShelterPoint Life envelopes and key correspondence are cobranded with First Rehab Life. Policyholders will be notified via mail and receive an endorsement for their policies. While the ShelterPoint Life name change has been officially finalized in New York, the company’s state of domicile, it is in the process of obtaining approval of the new name in other states in which First Rehab Life has been licensed. Policyholders outside New York will receive a name change endorsement in the future – but in the meantime, they may start seeing or hearing the new company name in communications, such as billing, claims or other correspondence.
ShelterPoint Life’s location, claims addresses, and phone numbers remain the same, while new web and email addresses are necessary to reflect the changed name. The new URL is www.shelterpoint.com. One person who will welcome the change is David Epstein, Vice President of Sales. David has worked with the company for almost three decades and has probably had o introduce the old name thousands of times, distinguishing First Rehab Life from rehabilitation companies. “I feel extremely proud to be part of the evolution of the former First Rehab Life; 2014 represents my 27th year anniversary with this company, and I have had the opportunity to shake hands with thousands of our producers, and have turned business relationships into valued friendships. I am humbled by the joint accomplishments with our producers and sincerely thank them,” he said.
The new flag is raised and the crew is setting sail from sea to shining sea.
