The best brand, playing with fire!

In the past weeks I’ve seen several companies claiming the position to be the best insurance brand in the world. Having worked in a company that claimed the same for many years in a row, I always wondered how this could be relevant for our customers, staff or even shareholders.

Clearly the definition of what is actually the ‘best brand’ is up for interpretation and I was slightly amused to see how it was being calculated. On their site Interbrand shows total transparency and explains how the value of a brand is calculated: "... to determine the value of a brand we use research, analytics, and creativity …”. Sounds like a solid academically acceptable approach.

The financial industry went through a very rough time during the Global Financial Crisis and almost 10 years later, the trust in banks and insurance companies has still not been fully restored. Insurance companies have, even before the crisis, been dealing with trust issues after promises were not kept, hidden charges and fees were made transparent and Regulators imposed hefty fines to companies for not having the best interest of their customers in mind.

In order to restore trust the leaders in the industry have been veering away from practices as misleading customers in advertisements, letting insurance agents misrepresent and/or over-promise, selling for the client non-relevant covers. Sometimes companies acted on their responsibility, other times actions were forced by Regulators that tried to protect the industry and the society at large.

Insurance has a social value and I do sincerely believe in the value of life insurance as one of the corner stones of a financial plan. Both insuring against the financial burdens that come with unexpected events as the preparation for a secure financial future can often be done more efficiently by including a life insurance policy. In my home country tax reforms, reputation issues and competition from substitute products have resulted in a strong decrease of the life insurance industry. With governments continuously reducing social security benefits, I highly doubt if the public in the end are better off. Not including a life insurance policy means that the financial plan likely has gaps and that there is not sufficient money to fund the college education of their children, augment their personal retirement fund or let their loved ones be financially prepared when the breadwinner dies too early.

I do recognize that there are distributors that abuse the ignorance of the public to enrich themselves, but I also know that this is only a small section of the spectrum. The vast majority sincerely does all they can to ensure the customer receives the optimal value for his budget. So like in any industry there are some bad apples, but would the fact that there are restaurants that deliver low quality food for high prices stop you from eating in restaurants?

Trust, and restoring trust has been key for the industry in the past decade. Because for companies in the industry the product offered is a promise to its clients. A promise that it will offer the financial assistance agreed in time of need. For a company that depends on client's trust, integrity is not a luxury, it is a key necessity to survive.

A claim to be the 'best brand' and insinuating that the company delivers the best in class customer experience is misleading, basing this on a study in which creativity is a key ingredient, is misrepresenting. In this world where fake news resonates and facts and figures seem less important, it is understandable that the idea of creating brand awareness quicker lights a fire. A fire however should be controlled as otherwise it burns down the company and impacts the industry negatively.