The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents saideight more insurance companies have signed on as sponsors of theassociation's agent branding program, Local Agents Serving MainStreet America.

The Alexandria, Va.-based association said that GMAC InsuranceManagement Corporation, Hastings Mutual Insurance Company, HomeMutual Fire Insurance Company, The IMT Group, Iowa Mutual InsuranceCompany, Mercury Insurance Group, Penn National Insurance andRamsgate Managing Insurance have signed on to the program.

PIA National Executive Vice President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer Len Brevik said in a statement, "By signing on as sponsorsof the PIA Branding Program, carriers demonstrate their commitmentto the success of the independent agency distribution system andthe continuing prosperity of their professional agent salesforce."

There is no fee for carriers to join the program, and PIA saidit prefers the carriers use their money to support advertisinginitiatives of agents.

The branding program is an advertising and promotional campaignavailable at no additional cost to all PIA member agenciesthroughout the nation. The program currently consists of 21 printadvertisements with 251 variations that PIA members can run intheir local publications.