You didn’t know you were part of the sexiest industry on the planet, did you? Me neither. At least until I heard about http://www.sexyinsurance.com/. I’ll pause here while you click on the link. I mean, with a name like “sexy insurance” who can resist?
I get pity looks when others find out that I live and breathe insurance, as if my job functions as a classic example of the word BOR-ING. Most of us know better. How can an industry that has spawned the likes of Mickey Segal and Dickie Scruggs ever be boring? But SEXY??? Well, that makes as much sense as a romantic holiday named after a temple priest who was flogged and then beheaded in 269 A.D. for attempting to convert the Emperor Claudius to Christianity.
The whole point is to interact, and the folks running Boston-based Dynamia Interactive, Inc.—the boutique Web 2.0 development shop that is the company behind sexyinsurance.com—have created a web site with links to some alluring content. What reinsurance executive wouldn’t be intrigued by a chat room labeled “Swiss Market?”
Sexyinsurance.com caters to all types. From the mainstream to the fringes of the industry, the site offers something for every conceivable insurance-related sub-culture. One group of members chats in a room created for persons fascinated by “Executive & Professional Liability Insurance.” Another member group exchanges views on “User Experience & Design.” Downright interesting, but not enough to convince me about sexy.
Sexyinsurance.com has many other tempting features. There’s news, a link to a place called “the Lounge” which is billed as a 24-hour virtual pub (something very useful for insurance litigators no doubt), a job board, a rate comparison tool, photos, videos (wouldn’t clips of malingering plaintiffs be a hoot?), recommendations (this week’s feature is Insurance for Dummies) and a customizable music player, which I suppose is sexy in a techno-geek sort of way.
Sexyinsurance works a lot like MySpace and Facebook. Members sign on to the site and then create their own page. Other members check out your page. You check out theirs. Everyone has screen names like “Insurance Man,” “Indemnilicious, and “unemployed sexy insurance chick from CA.” This is the type of virtual seduction that may be moving us closer to the realm of sex, but in my humble opinion the site still doesn’t come close to being sexy.
Then I saw something really, really tempting—the names of the insurance industry giants that are linking to the site listed under the section “What They’re Saying about Sexy Insurance.” Big players like Business Insurance, Insurance Technology, the CPCU Society, California Broker, Insurance Journal and Post online are coming to the site and giving it their imprimatur. Now that’s sexy.
Perhaps these guys are on to something. Perhaps insurance is sexy. Yeah baby.