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Penny Black’s Social Diary: Kingfisher’s rally; Acini’s doughnuts

Social Diary

Penny Black is back, sharing the tittle-tattle she overheard at insurance industry events, reviewing the quality of buffets at conferences and giving a thumbs up – or down – to the sector's social media posts.

Rally round

Motorsport racecar driving on a road.

Kingfisher Motorsport, the specialist motorsport insurance broker within the Kingfisher Insurance family, has announced a partnership with the British Trials & Rally Drivers Association as the official sponsor of the 2026 English Rally Championship.

It’s a neat fit – a motorsport insurance specialist sponsoring a motorsport championship – and considerably easier to explain than some of the more creative brand partnerships and campaigns the industry has attempted recently. No space elevators or therapy sessions required.


Penny’s Lunch Box

A white paper back on a desk.

The team at Acini marked the Polish holiday Fat Thursday – the last Thursday before Lent, celebrated with the consumption of considerable quantities of doughnuts – by sending the Insurance Post team an extremely generous delivery.

The bag in the image is one of several, as 80 doughnuts sent over. It took some coordination to work out how to distribute them, as we had no choice but to share with other teams. 

The doughnuts were excellent. The Polish tradition of Fat Thursday exists for good reason. Five stars, and a message to any other companies wondering how to get coverage in this column: take note.

Out of context

“We can work popular movie references in the answers as we go.”

Chris Bose, director of general insurance at the Association of British Insurers, acknowledges that coming after Jason Bevan, a former Warner Brothers Studio executive, on the trade body’s conference agenda may prove to be a hard act to follow.

 

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