Snapsheet Brand Awareness Campaign
A comprehensive thought leadership and earned media strategy repositions Snapsheet and shines light on innovation and market leadership.
Overview
Snapsheet is the leading provider of virtual claims technology solutions for the auto insurance industry. Due to a recent business pivot, the company was struggling to generate greater visibility and credibility among its new target audience: insurance carriers. To do so, Walker Sands created a media relations program that tapped into its widespread network of insurance, technology and business reporters.
As a result, Snapsheet earned hundreds of media placements in top-tier publications, securing speaking engagements and awards wins.
total placements
feature stories
media interviews secured at InsureTech Connect two years in a row
Background
Snapsheet is the leading provider of virtual claims technology solutions for the personal and commercial auto insurance industry. A fast-growing startup, Snapsheet simplifies the claims process for more than 70 insurance carriers and their customers.
Founded as BodyShopBids, the company started as a breakthrough mobile app that let consumers virtually shop for car repair appraisals. The company’s co-founder created the app after having a fender bender and being laid off from his job, a founding story that resulted in great early buzz for the company.
However, despite raising more than $1 million in funding, BodyShopBids was struggling to survive, as most consumers relied on their insurance carrier to manage the appraisal comparison process. In response, the founders decided to sell the technology directly to insurance carriers and changed the company’s name to Snapsheet. The newly rebranded company also expanded its offerings to include a behind-the-scenes, back-office claims processing platform.
The Challenge
While Snapsheet’s business pivot was successful, the company had difficulty creating widespread awareness for its new brand positioning. Its iconic founding story had already created a lot of consumer media buzz, but its new back-office platform was a white label product that lacked inherent media appeal.
Snapsheet came to Walker Sands for help generating greater visibility and credibility among its new target audience – insurance carriers. In addition, Snapsheet wanted to communicate its new brand positioning and success to potential investors and employees to support its continued rapid growth.
The Solution
The Walker Sands team kicked off the program with a bang by securing a placement in TechCrunch to announce Snapsheet’s $12M series D funding. Already off to a great start, the team tapped into its large network of insurance, technology and business reporters to help solidify Snapsheet’s place on the InsurTech map. After introducing Snapsheet and its new product offerings to key reporters, Walker Sands opened a constant stream of story ideas. To do so, the team capitalized on Snapsheet’s rapid growth and a multitude of company milestones such as launching a new payment offering, securing a new round of financing, leasing new office space in Chicago and expanding into the Canadian marketplace.
Walker Sands also helped Snapsheet build strong and enduring relationships with insurance industry and technology reporters, positioning Snapsheet executives as sources of expert commentary on trending topics like AI and connected cars. The team even enlisted USAA, a leading insurance carrier, to speak on Snapsheet’s behalf in a feature story about Hurricane Harvey’s effect on the insurance industry.
In addition to extensive media relations and thought leadership efforts, Walker Sands targeted key industry events to secure speaking opportunities for Snapsheet’s leadership team. To even further increase brand awareness, the team submitted Snapsheet for relevant awards, helping to establish the company as an industry leader.
The Results
During the partnership, Walker Sands generated a total of 270 placements for Snapsheet, many of which were top-tier, including:
- Wall Street Journal: Startups Show Car and Home Insurers They Need to Get Smarter
- Insurance Journal: Insurtech Profile: Snapsheet’s Evolution in Making Virtual Claims Service a Reality
- US News & World Report: Tech Companies Are Choosing Chicago
- VentureBeat: Heartland Tech Weekly: Midwest insurance tech startups show promise
- Payments Journal: How Insurance Carriers Can Satisfy the Expectations of the On-Demand Generation
Walker Sands also generated 73 placements in industry trade publications, including two feature stories and two bylines in Carrier Management, a key outlet for the InsurTech industry.
Leveraging their strong industry connections, the Walker Sands team secured opportunities for Snapsheet executives to serve on panel discussions at key industry events including OnRamp Insurance Conference and America’s Claims Event (ACE). In addition to these live opportunities, Walker Sands scheduled eight media interviews with reporters at InsureTech Connect for two years in a row.
Walker Sands’ award submission efforts also proved successful. Brad Weisberg, Snapsheet’s CEO and founder, was recognized as a Midwest Region Finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year, and the company won Best Insurtech Solution at the Benzinga Global Fintech Awards.
Finally, to support Snapsheet’s rapid growth and talent recruitment needs, Walker Sands generated a significant amount of local media buzz about the company, resulting in 43 placements in Chicagoland media.
In less than two years, Walker Sands helped Snapsheet become widely known within its industry as a technology innovator and a thought leader.
