Brainshark Launches Site for Carriers and Distributors

Brainshark (Waltham, Mass.), a provider of on-demand presentations, debuted today the Brainshark Insurance Network, which it describes as a central site where life insurance carriers can equip and empower their distribution channel with on-demand, voice-enriched presentations for product education and marketing outreach. In conjunction with this offering, Brainshark has also launched Brainshark for Brokerages " a customized application for distribution partners accessing the Brainshark Insurance Network. Through Brainshark for Brokerages, distribution partners can view, personalize, send and track the carrier-created content " as well as create their own Brainshark presentations " to strengthen sales and marketing communications, according to a Brainshark press release.

Life insurers benefit from using the Brainshark Insurance Network because it makes it easy for distributors to get the information they need from a central site, according to a Brainshark spokesperson. The site gives carriers access to brokerages not already doing business with them.

"Because Brainshark also is offering training and support to the brokerages, we are taking on the task of coaching brokerages on how to use the content most effectively in marketing and selling, reducing the burden on Carriers," the Brainshark source says. "As we are experts in using on-demand communications within marketing and selling, we're in the best position to assist."

Carriers can receive reports that show how any presentation is being used across all brokerages, and how much a given brokerage is using available content, according to the Brainshark source. However, carriers cannot see their competitors' presentations.

"We've already had a lot of success using Brainshark to cut costs and improve efficiencies across our business and look forward to building on that with the Brainshark Insurance Network," comments David Behrens, executive vice president, Independent Marketing Group, American National Insurance Company (Galveston, Texas). "By giving our distributors access to our high-impact, timely content, we also get peace of mind that they are describing and selling our products in a way that ensures our brand consistency. Plus, being able to see which of our presentations are viewed the most, as well as those that are less popular, helps us refine our own content creation strategies for the future."

Other life insurance carriers distributing their on-demand content on the Brainshark Insurance Network include American General Life, Jackson National Life, Lincoln Benefit Life, Liberty National Life and United American Insurance, according to the Brainshark press release. Brainshark has made available an example of Jackson National Life's use of Brainshark.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio