Mention insurance to most people and they are likely to stifle a yawn. They’ll think there is not much more to it than trying to save a few quid on their home or car insurance on a price comparison site – which is indeed boring. But reinsurance? The insurance that insurance companies take out? That must be boredom to the power of 100. Good luck doing PR for that say some people.
Reinsurance has a storytelling problem for PR
I’d argue reinsurance is one of the most interesting, exciting and varied jobs anywhere in the world – yet the industry has spectacularly failed to tell this amazing story. From protecting coastal communities from wipe out from tsunamis, trying to predict when hurricanes and tornadoes will strike, and a myriad of other risks like drones, driverless cars, and cyber attacks with the potential to cripple economies, the scale of work involved could hardly be more varied.
The industry is global in reach. Every day in Lloyd’s, London-based underwriters are insuring a bewildering array of risks around the planet. These global businesses offer amazing opportunities for young professionals to work in glamorous cities around the world – and the pay is not at all bad either.
Money, glamour, exotic locations
Throw into this heady mix the colossal sums of cash involved as the worlds of reinsurance and the global capital markets combine and there is no shortage of glamour either. Aon Benfield estimates the reinsurance industry’s capital value at $565 billion in January 2016 with alternative capital adding a further $69 billion http://thoughtleadership.aonbenfield.com/Documents/20160101-ab-analytics-reinsurance-market-outlook-january-2016.pdf – clearly an industry that really plays a key role in allowing business to function around the world.
Overcoming the bore factor
Yet as Swiss Re’s Keith Wolfe https://openminds.swissre.com/stories/968/ recently noted, most people are bored at the thought of insurance – never mind trying to explain reinsurance! Lloyd’s CEO Inga Beale did a marvellous job on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island discs http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07bb1vl in May to explain just what an incredible industry it is. I am told that following Inga’s appearance – sandwiched in between Tom Hanks and Motown founder Berry Gordy no less! – her inbox was full of emails from people saying they didn’t realise just how fascinating the industry was.
Nevertheless, the industry is still struggling to attract the brightest and the best who will form the next generation of insurance and reinsurance leaders. Until the reinsurance industry starts to do a better public relations job on itself, sadly, that seems unlikely to change. I’d be interested to hear any suggestions from readers. PR can play a key role in attracting people to an industry that sometimes seems keen to shoot itself in the foot by alienating the likes of millennials.
You be the reinsurance experts, get storytellers in for the PR
Obviously this has to end with a slight plug for the Rein4ce reinsurance PR team, but as our reinsurance and events case studies show our team are very good at finding not only the right stories but the right audiences, formats, channels and results for those stories, so feel free to get in touch.
