Manifestos for reinventing insurance

First of all, let’s get one thing straight: not many kids are out there thinking “When I grow up, I’m going to work in advertising!” And of those few, probably none of them think “I’m going to go into advertising . . . and then go work for an insurance company!

It’s a non-linear and unexpected career path for sure — but here’s why I did it: insurance, in and of itself, is not interesting. But changing behavior for the better at a society-wide level? Now that’s interesting.

HiRoad exists to reward, empower, and celebrate mindful living — and car insurance was just an interesting place to start, because it’s something everyone has to have. By rewarding mindful driving, and putting insurance right where people need it (on their phones), the model has social good built in, and is an idea whose time and technology have come.

So once I took the job as lead copywriter, a key task was to articulate and inspire something bigger than an app, a product, or a transaction: HiRoad was supposed to be a movement. A banner for kindred spirits to unite around. Even, dare we say it, a lifestyle brand.

Here were several takes on it; I gravitated toward the same sign-off line for all since it brings out the symbolism in the logo.

Version 1: un-insurer manifesto

We are HiRoad.

We’re a new voice breaking into the stuffy conversation of insurance. A hot espresso shot for a sleeping industry.

We are the friendly wave from another driver, the toll paid, the parking spot offered up. We are rethinking what it means to own a car, to insure a car, to use a car. We are rethinking what it means to be mobile, to be a good citizen, to help out.

We are creating a new system where nice guys finish first. Where virtue is its own reward — but recognition and badges and dollars in your pocket are too.

We believe it’s about time for “I saw what you did there” to mean more than just someone getting your joke, but someone getting that you are making a difference.

We are a bunch of people who are excited about the journey ahead, both on road trips, and with the future. We are like-minded people on the way up, and this is reflected in our photos, our illustrations, and the springlike, limey stripe of our logo.

We call it the uptick, because we’re optimistic and believe that’s the direction things are headed.

See you on the way up.

Version 2: are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

Kids have been asking this question since parents were driving covered wagons across the prairie. Today, in 2019, with self-driving cars around us and Siri telling us where to go, we’re still asking this.

Are we there yet?

But with us, the question is about so much more than the long drive to Grandma’s house, or when we’re getting to the beach.

It’s about the insurance business, about how we get around, about how we interact with each other as a society.

Whether we’re talking about how insurance usually works, or why good drivers aren’t rewarded for making the roads a better place, we all have this gut feeling that we’re not there yet.

Something’s a little off, a little broken, a little behind. The system isn’t set up the way it should be.

There’s karma floating around our streets and towns, but it’s just floating — nobody’s tracking it, measuring it, making sure it has a place to land.

Does it sound too hifalutin’ to say that’s why we’re here?

Well, it is. We’re here to pin a medal on all the daily driving heroes like you who are going around right now unrecognized. To raise a banner for all those of us who are trying to live a little better, a little smarter, a little nicer.

That’s why we’re called HiRoad: we believe that sense of “there” is about choices, and about being saluted for making good ones.

We’ve all heard the phrase “taking the high road,” and we all intuitively know what it means. We all know when we’re doing it, and we’re inspired when we see others doing it as well.

But let’s be honest: it’ll take us a while to get “there.” To build the HiRoad. To rally enough folks around to make the kind of difference in our communities we’re looking for.

But if you join us, we’ll get there sooner.

See you on the way up.

Version 3: ascension

What is HiRoad all about?

You’ll notice that our symbol is a dash that goes up. (A 9º angle, if you’re counting.) That angle, that upward-pointing line, symbolizes who we are, where we’re going, and how we see the world.

Now a nine-degree slope is not a mountain — but it’s definitely uphill. A nine-degree grade will bring out the low gears in trucks — and the effort in people.

HiRoad is not about coasting — that would be a downhill slope. Nor is HiRoad about just continuing the status quo — that would be a flat, level path.

No, HiRoad is about ascension, and everything that implies.

Ascension is about progress: the search for a better way of doing things.
It’s about betterment: goals, movement, direction.

Ascension is about striving for a future that’s better than the present. It’s about optimism, about believing that there’s someplace worth leaving the security and comfort of the known for.

Now ascension doesn’t come for free. Ascension takes work. Commitment. Sweat. Even training.

Sometimes when you ascend, you think you’re at the top, and then find out you’re not. Or you lose your footing and slip backward for a step. Or you turn around and still don’t have the view you’d hoped for.

Ascension can also mean sacrifice — leaving things behind that were holding you back. Choosing not to pursue sidetracks.

Ascension may even mean fatigue, failure, and a humbling confrontation with one’s own limits. Ascension is an upward progression, but not without its plateaus, detours, and roadblocks.

But in the end, ascension means marching, plodding, trudging, climbing, scrapping, and scraping your way to someplace higher.

That’s why we’re here. That’s why we founded HiRoad; that’s why we come to work every day. And this attitude unifies everything we do: the people we hire, the products we create, the technology we use, the perspective we have.

So the HiRoad isn’t for everyone. It isn’t the easy way out; it isn’t instant gratification; it isn’t always recognized.

But we’re going to change that.

See you on the way up.

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Note: thanks to T-Mobile’s classic un-carrier manifesto for inspiring the first one. And see more at hiroad.com.