Women in the boardroom – and introducing 100 Women in Reinsurance Group

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Mairi

Very recently, I spoke to one industry executive who said that he did not think that men and women could ever work effectively together in the insurance industry – although plenty of women work in his global insurance business. To say I was not surprised is an understatement.

That said, in the same week, I met another CEO who is striving to have a 50/50 split of men and women in his busniess to avoid the testosterone-charged decisions being made. He says he is still a long way off, but he has a goal in mind. Continue reading →

Reinsurance Girl’s blog nominated for LexisNexis top 50 insurance law blogs

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Mairi

We are delighted at rein4ce that our Reinsurance Girl blog has been once again nominated for the LexisNexis top 50 insurance law blogs.

The list is featured on the LexisNexis Insurance Law Community and is well worth checking out as it has some favourite resources on there – from Artemis.bm, to GC Capital Ideas, to Lloyd’s of London’s blog, to Goldberg Segalla’s Insurance and Reinsurance Report, Risk Management Monitor and Willis’ new Willis Wire blog.

At rein4ce, we don’t normally ask for much, but we would today ask for your support by voting for our blog. Simply follow the link here and leave a comment by October 7th offering your support. Every little helps!

The amazing folly of large corporations not being on Facebook

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Mairi

Today I was looking for something on Facebook and came across the Lloyd’s of London group site. What I found (see screen grab below) was a page imported from Wikipedia – this time in Portuguese (!). I’ve talked about this before, but it really beggars belief that Lloyd’s is so sloppy in its risk and brand management as to not have control of its own Facebook page.

A while back, Facebook started importing Wikipedia pages for Fortune 100 and FTSE 100 companies onto Facebook if the companies did not have a Facebook page – all without their knowlegde . Remember Wiki pages are updated by the general public, and not controlled by any company or organisation. I’m sure you can see the risks of that without me having to spell them out. For corporations that pride themselves in managing their image this is not good – to put it mildly. Continue reading →

New York vs Lloyd’s of London – the insurance battle begins

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Mairi

Last week I attended an event in London where Jim Wrynn, the New York Superintendent of Insurance, gave details of plans for the proposed New York Insurance Exchange (NYIE).

James Wrynn

While he laid out the timescale – which could see plans completed by as early as September – at the Insider Scope (organised by Insurance Insider) event, you could feel a sense of discomfort creep across the audience. Here were several hundred of the great and the good of the London Market assembled to hear if New York was planning to blow Lloyd’s out of the water. Continue reading →

Reinsurance and insurance social media – ones to watch in 2010…

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Mairi

As we start a new year, I though my first blog of 2010 would be a list of who to watch and listen to in the world of reinsurance and insurance in the context of social media. It is still quite a small list, and if you know of anyone I’ve missed out, please let me know and I’ll keep updating it. Continue reading →

Five key tips for using social media in the re/insurance markets

Posted on November 27, 2009 by Mairi

In the past couple of months, word about the importance of social media has definitely reached the ears of those at the top of the insurance and reinsurance markets.

Many may not understand the ins and outs of it all, but a growing band of CEOs and marketing executives are starting to dip their toes into these unknown waters – take as an example, Munich Re America, which is now on Twitter.

For those of us who are carefully trying to find the best use for social media in our part of the corporate world, helping remove scales from their eyes is a big part of our job. We come in and look to see if this would work as part of their overall PR strategy and then help work out a digital strategy. Then we can help implement it.

This is how we do it:

Watch what others are doing in this space. Showing examples of just how well it can be done and how it can be used is a great way of converting the uninitiated. But there are very still few out there with an implemented plan – reinsurance brokers Guy Carpenter (for blogging), US attorneys Goldberg Segalla (especially on LinkedIn)… Us folks at rein4ce… Erm. That’s it (bar a few good publications and individuals).
Working out a digital PR strategy. A lot of what is out there already is all based on business to consumer, on engaging and talking with customers, which is fine if you are Confused.com (who, by the way, spend just 10 to 15% of its PR budget on digital, which seems surprisingly low). But for the brokerages, London Market, Bermuda Market (click through and that will take you to a good PwC survey on the Bermuda Market) and other global reinsurance giants, this model does not work.
Keep it corporate – and legal. Remember the old adage of don’t put anything online that you wouldn’t want your mum to read or your boss to see. Corporate guidelines need to be set. And by having a properly run campaign, you can minimise the risk of litigation by rogue employees blogging about your company in their own time – as it ring-fences your corporate brand and identity under your own umbrella, which is controlled by you.
What is it worth? In our world, social media cannot be measured by a straightforward “ROI” as so many claim. It is much more intangible than that. But some if it can be measured – by the number of clicks on your website, by how many people log on and read your blog, by how many people follow you on Twitter, by how many mentions you get online. When helping our clients in this world, we have to show the pitfalls. There is the thorny issue of moderation – who monitors and reports what is being said. And implementing the resources required to feed an audience that is hungry for content can be costly, especially because the key point about social media in this sector is about providing quality content.
Keeping it up. Consistency is also important. Many fail to keep up with the idea once the decision has been made – you cannot set up a Twitter feed or a blog and not keep it updated. Generally, a lack of resources can stop the best laid plan in its tracks.

Mairi Mallon heads up the niche PR company rein4ce and blogs and tweets as reinsurancegirl – rein4ce is also on facebook if you’d like to join the group type in rein4ce on facebook’s search box.

From Quill, to Biro, to Mouse… to Twitter

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Mairi

This week I’ve been working on developing a social media marketing plan for one of my favourite clients, Yellowblox, an insurance communications hub.

It has been great fun, and showing the company just how easy it is to use and how it can specifically target the very niche areas of reinsurance and insurance technology it works in has been deeply satisfying.

It is great to help companies in what is a very traditional market see how effective social media can be both as a networking tool but also to build brand awareness.

Blogging is an obvious way to put yourself forward as an expert and to gain a loyal following. And the benefits of social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook with their huge user numbers are also well documented.

And while Twitter may not be for everyone, there are more and more insurance and reinsurance-related people signing up to find out what all the hype is about.

There have been many jokes about how behind the times Lloyd’s of London is when it comes to technology. But look at the way reinsurance companies have embraced the super-techie world of modelling – and even in a smaller way, who is nowadays not plugged 24/7 into their BlackBerry? And if you have learned to use your BlackBerry, you can certainly blog, Tweet and join in the conversation – it really is not that hard.

In just a few years Lloyd’s has been pulled (admittedly kicking and screaming) out of much of its “deal now, details later” culture through the use of the kind of technology that Yellowblox advocates. Many worried (and still do) that the advent of all this new technology would stop the face-to-face meetings that so characterise the London Market. That simply has not happened.

The new ways of communicating with social media also will not replace human interaction. Instead it will enhance interaction and allow us to reach a far wider audience.

From writing this blog, Tweeting and taking part in LinkedIn conversations, my company’s website has had visitors from around the world. In fact, as many people from the UK as the US regularly follow my blog, and I have a strong following in the Middle East and India. Go figure.

So, for those of you in the London Market who have not had a shot on it all yet, go lay down that quill pen, and (while the boss is not looking) log onto LinkedIn, Twitter or facebook and have a wee poke around. There is even a Lloyd’s of London page on facebook, with less than a dozen members… You’ll be amazed who you will find on there.