spark360 Behind The Scenes: Service247

What Guy Hoffman calls “conscious capitalism,” others may call a bold departure for the business of home insurance claims handling. Using the preferred provider network model – the same concept you use when you get sick and call a doctor that’s part of your health insurance company’s network of physicians – isn’t really that new, but Hoffman is promising to put a twist on the idea by offering up speedy responses and reducing claims costs.

Hoffman’s company isn’t the only one offering up something slightly new and different. In telling his company’s story, you’ll notice that spark360 is also venturing off the path we’ve laid out so far with our business profiles.

Guy and I are using what Hoffman calls “the Charlie Rose” model; we sit at a big round desk in the spark360 studio and have a simple yet direct conversation about Service247′s business model. I ask him about the existing processes in the insurance industry and why more companies aren’t going the preferred provider route. You don’t see any video of homes being repaired, or any compelling footage of claims forms being filled out and filed (and yes, the use of “compelling” in that sentence is meant as sarcasm.) Hoffman felt that the subject matter didn’t lend itself to using a lot of what we call “b-roll” footage, but he still wanted to be a part of spark360.tv and our unique distribution model that uses social media/social video channels. For that we thank him, and we think our chat will help open some eyes regarding the way property loss claims are processed.

So on the spark360.tv website, you’ll see one 4-6 minute conversation with Hoffman, and if you dial that up, you’ll see the passion he has for his company, the strength of his arguments and his conviction that his exercise in “conscious capitalism” – giving something back to the community with your entrepreneurial efforts – will help the U.S. insurance industry. But when Hoffman puts the content on the Service247 website, he’ll break it up into six one-minute segments; what we’re calling spark360 Moments. Hoffman wanted to divvy up the content into bite-size nuggets, each detailing a particular aspect or query about his company.

We think it shows that we can be flexible with our clients and give them what they’re looking for with the particular content they’re seeking via spark360. We were happy to do that for Hoffman, and we’re willing to listen to other ideas as well.

Of course, we’re still in the business of providing business news-style stories when the subject matter calls for lots of opportunities for video b-roll. The bottom line? Just tell us your story; we’ll turn it around and tell it to the world.

- Renay San Miguel