Building Brands Podcast · Building Brands Marketing

No BS, You Get What You See

·21 min·1 clip

Allison DePaoli explains how an onsite clinic saved an employer $267,000 in productivity in just one year.

This episode of the Building Brands Podcast features host Brayden Pope interviewing Allison DePaoli, founder of the independent health insurance brokerage Alteak. They explore how Allison built a modern brand in the traditional health insurance industry by prioritizing client-specific solutions. Allison explains that Alteak operates as a boutique firm without the financial ties to specific carriers that constrain larger brokerages. A primary pain point she addresses is the high cost and poor access to care, where employees face weeks-long waits for doctor appointments. She argues this delay leads to more expensive emergency room visits and details how her firm creates strategies to shortcut access to primary care. Allison describes analyzing pharmacy claims to identify issues like patients skipping medications due to high copays, which negatively impacts plan performance. She shares a case study where implementing an on-site clinic for a 700-employee company yielded an estimated $267,000 in productivity savings by tracking employee time saved. Another example involved sourcing a specific medication, reducing a client's cost from $16,000 to $7,000. Allison states that video content performs well for her marketing, particularly an instance where she expressed visible frustration about an insurance company contract. She notes her audience engages most with topics like lowering prescription costs and uses unconventional imagery, like a pink skeleton, to capture attention. Allison admits her personal snark and sarcasm are core to her brand's voice, which she writes herself, knowing it attracts like-minded clients. She recalls a client's compliment that her team genuinely "gives a sh*t" about plan members, which she considers high praise. A key lesson was abandoning an overly polished corporate persona to embrace her direct personality, which accelerated growth. Allison believes authenticity is defensible against AI, as technology cannot replicate genuine human connection. The conversation is educational and conversational, focusing on practical business and marketing insights drawn from real client experiences. Listeners interested in non-traditional marketing within conservative industries or service-based business owners seeking to differentiate themselves would appreciate this episode. Those looking for highly technical insurance advice or who prefer formal, impersonal business discussions might find it less relevant.

As heard by us

A focused case study in how health-insurance branding connects to real operational savings.

Building Brands Podcast keeps this conversation grounded in what a health-insurance brand says it can do. Host Brayden Pope talks with Allison DePaoli, founder of Alteak, about a company that presents itself as a more forward-looking option than traditional brokers.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

See how a modern health-benefits broker turns hidden costs into savings.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Building Brands Podcast