At Denver Agency, it’s relationship first, insurance second. Founded in 1932, the agency’s goal—even during pandemics—is to stay true to the clients that have helped them stay true for more than 80 years. With a disruptive brand emphasizing the creative and unexpected—as evidenced on its website by, among other things, a rubber ducky labeled “destroyer”—Denver Agency’s team of 12 high net-worth insurance specialists are just as skilled in the psychological aspect of understanding clients as they are on the technical side of managing a reputable affluent accounts program.
In January 2019, Denver Agency launched narrative™ to form a brand identity around high net-worth personal lines. Continuing the agency’s marketing mastery, narrative teamed up with spoken-word artist Marshall Davis Jones to creatively bring their message of empathy and individualization to light through a video at narrativeinsurance.com.
Katy Hyman Roth, Partner and Vice President
The three words that sum us up are expertise, empathy and creativity in everything we do. We like to say we’re an 80-year-old startup company. You can tell from the longevity of our employees that we have the knowledge and the experience, but at the same time we are doing things differently—and things have to be done differently.
Our goal is to be there for our clients. They’re going through a lot right now. We put people first: our employees and our clients. Our innovation comes from the customer relationship side.
Eric Gordon, President
Our whole brand position is much more around empathy and hospitality than insurance, and we really lead with that. We speak to clients and prospects in a way that they’ve never been spoken to before in this space. We wanted to break out of the sea of sameness, archaic language and way of thinking in the independent agent space. If the client gets it, they’re a prospective client. If they don’t get it, then they should go elsewhere.
The next workforce generation sees our brand and wants to be a part of it, because it’s new, young and exciting. They may not have seen insurance in that light before. We have shown them that insurance can actually be creative. The entrepreneurialism is another huge attraction to the next generation. We’re not a corporate setting. Our producers understand that they are building their businesses and appreciate that autonomy.
Michelle Tremblay, Chief Marketing Officer
My primary focus is all things marketing and branding for our two brands: Denver Agency and narrative. We lead with a true understanding of the audience. There’s a real art to understanding what a person needs at a given point in time, and it goes back to the hospitality that’s been infused in the agency since the very beginning.
It’s one thing to market, but if you can’t back it up, retention rates plummet. And we have a very, very high retention rate. Our team is very protective and close to the people they serve, and that comes through time and time again. Callers don’t get sent to a call center or have to ask 20 questions before they get sent to a live human—they get a dedicated person. The bottom line is to provide that service, and that’s what really makes us stand apart.
PHOTO BY LARRY LASZLO
