Rob Gronkowski, the star former pro football player and pitchman for USAA insurance, will now call audibles for eMaxx Assurance Group, a Tampa-headquartered provider of a new type of risk-managed, captive-based commercial insurance.
“The Gronkowski and the McCarthy families have had a relationship for many, many years,” the retired tight end for the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccanneers said in a recent news conference.
Gronk, as he’s known, was referring to the family of Brian McCarthy, the CEO of eMaxx, who has ties to New England and Tampa and has supported some of Gronkowski’s charity efforts through the years.
Gronkowski will serve as company spokesman, representing eMaxx in brand campaigns, marketing efforts and community initiatives, the company announced.
“Everyone knows me from the USAA commercials, but it was time everyone moved on, and I think this is the best opportunity and, I think, the right opportunity,” Gronkowski said.
Gronk may be better known than the company he’s working for.
EMaxx until 2018 was known as Energi and specialized in liability and property coverage for the energy industry.
The firm decided to diversify into insurance for many more business and industry sectors, but with an unusual structure and approach that requires insureds to take extensive risk-abatement measures.
That may mean the use of telematics technology to ensure safety by truck drivers, wind and storm-surge mitigation for buildings in Florida, and vegetation reduction and fire suppression around structures in wildfire-prone areas.
Having seen the costly impact that lawsuits can have on guaranteed-cost insurance firms, McCarthy said getting insureds to share responsibility for losses was key.
“We felt the only way to effectively write commercial auto and general liability was through the members assuming risk in order to get them to implement the risk management that they needed to do,” McCarthy said in a recent interview with Insurance Journal.
The playbook seems to be working.
The most important insurance news,in your inbox every business day.
Get the insurance industry’s trusted newsletter
