Everyone knows the property-casualty insurance world is hurting. Any agent will tell you that the market is soft (isn’t it more Koosh ball squishy) and that, despite stimulus spending, there remain fewer construction projects for which insurance is needed.
These agents are so real world (not the TV show). They haven’t been looking in the right places. Yes, there. Right in front of you. See that screen. You should have been selling policies online. No, not real policies. Virtual policies. What? Not interested. You missed your chance.
Farmers announced today that it’s partnering with Zynga, makers of the Mac Daddy FarmVille game that wastes hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of some people’s time. (No, I have never played.) Through the partnership, Farmers will provide its virtual blimp to people playing the game. It even will offer them “wither protection” for their crops.
No, I am not making this up. (Here is my news story on Farmers and FarmVille based on a Farmers’ press release probably better suited to April 1.) I wish I were making it up – or could. I’d have written several best-selling novels by now.
No, in this odd case, reality trumps fiction.
Although it may be Farmers that has the last laugh as it brands itself to 60 million, yes, six-oh million, people who play the game each month. (It’s okay. I know you are one of them.) It’s giving the access to its blimp and “protection” free for the first 10 days.
Is it me, or is the virtual world of sales the same as the real one? Put a product out for free, then charge for it.
Maybe Farmers is going to use FarmVille to test its new products. Is there a virtual insurance commissioner to make repeated requests for additional supporting documents prior to its “approval” of the product? Can the wither protection sold in Farmville be sold on other online games, or would that require a separate approval? Shouldn’t there be reciprocity? (I bet the Jane Cline and the NAIC are setting up a subcommittee right now.)
One thing is for certain: Sooner or later, the property-casualty insurance market is going to improve, either in the real world or in the virtual world of FarmVille. I hope it’s the real one.
Farmers finds the last untapped insurance market: Farmville via IFAwebnews.com .
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