Three ways to ditch insurance’s ‘Old Boy’ network image

The session, titled Diversity on the Big Screen: How TV, Film, and Media Can Shape the Insurance Industry’s Inclusion Journey, considered how the sector is conveyed and steps that could be taken to improve its image.

Here are my key takeaways from the session - three ways to shift the perception of insurance from being an old boy network to being a sector considered diverse, inclusive, and one that everyone wants to join:

Addressing the white elephant in the room

To understand what the wider world thinks of insurance Peter Blanc, head of M&A at Howden Group, said he asked Google how the industry’s workers are portrayed in film and television.

He told a packed audience at iCan’s Dive In session, which was held at Aon’s offices, the mighty search engine struggled to find a single positive reference to the industry.

The only positive portrayal of insurance is Rene Russo in ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ as the “sexy insurance investigator” pursing Pierce Brosnan’s cat burglar.

Peter Blanc, head of M&A at Howden Group

The only positive portrayal he uncovered was The Thomas Crown Affair, where a “sexy insurance investigator” pursued Pierce Brosnan’s cat burglar character.

Mainly, he pointed out a career in the industry was portrayed as being a “grey job” for those with “grey hair” or corrupt with films like The Rainmaker showing lawyers having to “take on nasty insurance companies”.

Even in animation, Blanc said the way the sector was conveyed was depressing as in The Incredibles the superhero father Bob Parr, when he was no longer able to fight villains, had to work in a claims department.

Blanc said: “That was how they depicted a superhero hitting rock bottom – he went to work in insurance. That is pretty sad.”

With insurance being perceived as boring by the media, Blanc said people have to be encouraged to enter the industry and in the past often this meant parents were recommending their children follow in their career footsteps.

Blanc said: “You have this generational problem where white people, who have been in insurance, send their white children to school and when they have finished school, they get a job in insurance.”

He encouraged the net to be cast wider by promoting the benefits of working in the sector and connecting with programmes such as Black Intern, which opens the eyes of ethnic minorities to insurance as a career option.

Learning curve for insurer’s communications

The need to ensure the industry’s advertising campaigns reflect the make-up of society was also identified as important in changing perceptions of the sector.

Really look at them and find out what value they lend to your team or organisation. Just start there – just to see people as yourself.

Naomi Sesay, head of creative diversity at Channel 4

Miriam Boote, director of creative agency Designate, shared the learning curve she experienced while producing LV’s ‘Being LV’ advertising campaign.

Boote said: “LV has taken massive leaps forward with their diversity and inclusion programme and ensuring the communications that we put out there, as well as the organisation itself, is as inclusive and diverse as possible.

“The process we undertook for the campaign Being LV was that if we were going to put someone onscreen then we really needed to understand who that person is. We engaged with an organisation called the Diversity Standards Collective.

“When we presented a living room that a black family were [supposed to be] living in, one of the Diversity Standards Collective consultants said it was a white person’s living room. They said it looked nothing like a black person’s living room. We had to listen very carefully.

Boote said the fact Being LV was the most diverse and successful campaign the provider “has ever had” showed “there is a huge openness and willingness for people to have communications that are representative of modern Britain.”

Establish an inclusive culture

Ultimately, what was clear from the panel, is to truly tackle insurance’s image problem the sector’s leaders and employees need to put in the effort to create a diverse and inclusive culture.

Naomi Sesay, head of creative diversity at Channel 4, challenged everyone working in insurance to engage with their team, look at people and see them “as you see yourself”.

She said: “Really look at them and find out what value they lend to your team or organisation. Just start there – just to see people as yourself.

I loved my job and being around my colleagues because I was doing it as me – as a Scottish, Ghanaian, single mum. When you do that, you will unlock a new level of brilliance.

Afua Hagan, news editor and commentator

“They have lots of different types of expertise from a different lens that they can bring – from a different country, from a different ethnicity, from a different socio-economic group – that could lend to the solutions that you are seeking.”

She pointed out when it comes to creating a divers and inclusive culture, anyone who was neurodivergent, for example, shouldn’t have to prove their value in insurance.

Companies need to create an inclusive environment so that everyone can feel comfortable in their skin at work rather than employees being forced to hide their background or mask neurodiversity to fit in, she said.

“My advice is do not shy away or try to cut out pieces of yourself. Be your authentic self. The onus of burden on being included is not on you. It is on the system, structures, and people within an organisation,” Sesay said.

Afua Hagan, news editor and commentator for Channel 5, Sky, CNN, and the BBC, agreed creating a culture where you can be yourself was key to transforming the perception of the sector and making it more commercially successful.

Hagan, a regular on Talk TV, said when she worked for an African news organisation she was able to show up as her authentic self and it was then that she started to produce some of her best work.

Hagan said: “I loved my job and being around my colleagues because I was doing it as me – as a Scottish, Ghanaian, single mum. When you do that, you will unlock a new level of brilliance.”