ADVERTISING CENTER BRANDING
The Brooke brand is a powerful sales tool because it triggers name recognition by prospective customers and inspires customer confidence in local agents. The advertising center's primary mission is to build and protect the Brooke brand through cooperative advertising with franchisees.
The advertising center builds the Brooke brand by promoting branding efficiencies and branding results and protects the Brooke brand by controlling Brooke's image and message.
Branding Efficiency 
There is branding strength in numbers. By sharing the cost of advertising and public relations activities among more than 650 franchisees, branding is less expensive and more effective than it would be if all franchisees were on their own.
Brooke is a branding partner through cooperative advertising with individual franchisees. By sharing the cost of advertising campaigns with Brooke, franchisees leverage their advertising investments.
Additional efficiencies include the negotiation by the advertising center of volume discounts for branding-related purchases and reduction of administrative expenses from consolidation of vendor payment processing. Franchisees also have access to outside professionals through the advertising center that would not otherwise be available to them.
Branding Results
Getting the desired results from an investment in advertising requires discipline and focus. The determination of whether the desired results are obtained first requires a write up, or summary, of expenses and expectations so that a standard for measuring results is established.
The measurement of results requires a follow up analysis after completion of an advertising campaign. Campaign follow up includes an analysis of the source for customers. Specific sourcing information is typically captured by the advertising center during the process of setting up prospects in the Brooke Management System. Additional specific information regarding campaign effectiveness is provided by analysis of phantom phone number traffic and direct mail responses to phantom departments. Campaign follow up also includes an analysis of overall revenues and survey of franchisees for their general perceptions.
The final step in generating branding results is communication with franchisees. By requiring campaign write ups and follow ups, the advertising center is a clearinghouse for advertising information and generally knows what is effective and what isn't. To help franchisees analyze branding results, the advertising center provides semi-annual “intelligence” reports, tailored specifically for each franchisee, that summarize advertising expenditures and campaigns, logo usage, customer demographics and several other important branding measurements.
 Brand Control
Controlling the Brooke brand is very important to individual franchisees because the local perception of the Brooke brand directly affects their sales. With more than 650 franchisees, controlling the brand requires constant attention. A marketing committee has been established with the responsibility for establishing brand policy and auditing brand usage. The advertising center implements the branding policies of the marketing committee and the regional offices audit branding usage for compliance review by the marketing committee.
Branding decisions affect all franchisees, so the makeup of the marketing committee is important. The marketing committee includes senior management, advertising center and regional offices representatives.
Advertising Center Professionals
Advertising center professionals are separated into six disciplines, so franchisees have access to the expertise that results from specialization. These disciplines include traditional advertising, direct mail advertising, alternative advertising, public relations, lead generation and location analysis.
- Traditional Advertising
The traditional advertising professionals coordinate media buys, assist in the research and development of new advertising pieces and coordinate radio, television, billboard and print advertising.
The traditional advertising professionals currently work with two advertising agencies, Brush Art of Downs, Kansas and Seraphein Beyn of Sacramento , California . These agencies assist the advertising center with the development of advertising materials, media buys, and media research, analysis and planning.
- Direct Mail Advertising
The direct mail advertising professionals specialize in mailing list acquisition and management, and scheduling of direct mail printing and processing. The direct mail advertising professionals generally use the advertising center's print shop for printing and processing of direct mail and the traditional advertising professionals are typically responsible for the development of new advertising pieces.
The direct mail advertising professionals use AccuZIP software for validation of mailing lists and typically purchase mailing addresses in large quantities from suppliers such as Polk. These professionals have developed an expertise in sorting and validating mailing lists to get maximum advertising effect for minimum postage costs.
- Alternative Advertising
The alternative advertising professionals specialize in yellow pages advertising. These professionals are also responsible for experimenting with other means of advertising such as flyers, door hangers, event sponsorships and promotional gimmicks. 
The alternative advertising professionals have a long-term relationship with Christenson, Barclay & Shaw, a consulting firm that provides valuable research of yellow pages advertising and negotiates significant discounts from publishers.
CB&S research includes ranking reports, directory classification and mapping of coverage areas. CB&S also provides specific directory recommendations and access to graphic designers specializing in yellow page ads. Additionally, CB&S has negotiated significant advertising discounts for franchisees with yellow page directories, including SBC, Bellsouth, Yellow Book and DEX Quest.
Another benefit of working with CB&S is access to the measurement of results from yellow pages advertising using standard call, remote call forwarding and phantom numbers. CB&S provides sourcing and customer service data such as time of call, missed calls, rings to answer, identification of caller and length of call. This data can be analyzed to identify peak calling times, record caller addresses for follow up mailings and develop socio-economic profiles of callers.
- Public Relations
The public relations professionals work with individual franchisees to create news releases about local events and distribute those releases to the franchisee's local media. These professionals also work with senior management to create news releases for the insurance trade industry that promote the Brooke franchise and increase franchise value.
 The public relations professionals have retained eNR Services, a Connecticut-based marketing firm that specializes in grassroots public relations, to assist with the distribution of local news releases to local media. The public relations professionals assist franchisees in identifying newsworthy events and drafting news releases. These professionals also work with eNR Services to develop six byline articles each year for distribution on behalf of franchisees.
eNR Services assists the public relations professionals in the measurement of results from local news releases with monthly media reports that provide news release activity, newspaper circulation and estimated impressions.
Additionally, the public relations professionals utilize PR Newswire to distribute news releases to larger audiences, such as the insurance trade industry.
- Lead Generation
The lead generation professionals organize their activities into internally and externally generated leads. Internally generated lead activities include support for individual franchise Web sites, the www.BrookeAgent.com Web site for all franchises, and the 866-77-AGENT and 866-77-FAXIT toll-free numbers for all franchises. Externally generated lead activities primarily include lead purchases from third parties.
Lead generation professionals consult with franchisees to host, customize and personalize their Web sites. Individual franchise Web sites are linked to the www.BrookeAgent.com site, which typically improves search engine performance rankings.
Lead generation professionals are also responsible for the development of the www.BrookeAgent.com Web site, which is specifically designed to attract consumers for franchisees. Each month, approximately 11,000 visitors use the site's agent locator tool and view approximately 60,000 pages. The www.BrookeAgent.com site is generating leads for franchisees at a growing pace.
A pair of toll-free telephone numbers, 866-77-AGENT for voice calls and 866-77-FAXIT for fax calls, is made available to all franchisees by the lead generation professionals. When calls are received on the voice toll-free line, callers may use the automated system to automatically transfer their calls to a franchisee or choose to speak with a live operator who will also transfer their calls to a franchisee. When faxes are received on the toll-free fax line, operators automatically forward the faxes to franchisees via e-mail.
The lead generation professionals also purchase leads from third party vendors such as NetQuote, InsureMe and AllQuotes. Volume discounts have been negotiated with these vendors and leads are tracked to monitor cost effectiveness.
- Location Analysis
Although the success of insurance agents depends first on the ambition and professional capabilities of franchisees, the selection of a suitable franchise location improves the chances for success of individual franchisees and promotes the Brooke brand for the benefit of all franchisees.
Location analysis professionals provide franchisees with access to expertise that would otherwise be too expensive to acquire. Location analysis first requires identification of those characteristics that define a good location for franchisees. The location analysis professionals rely primarily on analysis of existing franchise locations, including factors such as sales performance and customer base profiles, to help identify the characteristics of good locations.
To help analyze locations, these professionals use Claritas software, which is a world leader in demographic and market segmentation information. Claritas has the capability to provide market segmentation data, demographic data, consumer marketing analysis and marketing strategy expertise.
Advertising Center Building
The 25,000 square foot advertising center building features five work and retail areas including professionals' work space, materials show room, merchandise store, print shop and video production studio.
- Professionals' Work Space
The advertising center personnel consist of approximately 30 professionals who specialize in one of the six advertising disciplines supported by the advertising center. The work space created in the building provides these professionals with a creative and open environment.
- Materials Showroom
The advertising center's open floor plan also allows for the display of outdoor signage, wrapped cars and other advertising and marketing tools. Additionally, the square footage of the facility provides storage room for advertising materials and logo merchandise, which gives franchisees the benefits of volume discounts and immediate shipping.
- Merchandise Store
The advertising center also houses a logo merchandise store and gourmet coffee bar. Access is available to both Brooke employees and the general public who wish to purchase Brooke logo merchandise or patronize the coffee bar.
- Print Shop
The print shop housed within the advertising center accommodates printing, copying and mailing equipment used for franchisee advertising and promotions. Nearly $250,000 has been invested in the equipment and software and franchisees receive significant cost and time benefits from this investment.
- Video Production Studio
Video production is an important communication, training and advertising tool. The studio is fully equipped with professional video cameras, lighting equipment, production computers and software, and was also designed to be sound proof and lighting friendly. The studio staff utilizes professional software such as Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition and Adobe Encore DVD.
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