INTRODUCTION
The
timeliness of the Joint Industry Media Retreat is a reinforcement of the
beckoning need for greater Industry harmony. This retreat therefore signify
various things to the industry
The
Retreat is an Industry statement of Appreciation of the Media as worthy
partners in progress.
It is a
reflection of the mutual and reciprocal obligation between the Insurance
Industry and the Media which reinforces the stakeholder value of the media in
the realization of Insurance culture
The
retreat is an inclusive approach to making the Media part and parcel of the
Industry change process.
The
retreat is a veritable platform for mutual understanding between the Industry
and the Media.
BACKGROUND
The Insurance
Industry has continued to be bedeviled by several challenges relating to image
and Public perception. Among these challenges are the following:
Poor
Public perception occasioned by several factors including what many term the
conservative nature of insurance and its operators.
Unpatronizing
comparism of the Industry with the banking sector. It is always the norm to
compare the Insurance Industry with its twin brother- the banking industry,
with a conclusion that the latter has continued to fare better in terms of
public image and perception.
Relative
absence from public consciousness. The public most often do not conceive
insurance services as being as fundamental to their existence as banking
services.
3.0
EMERGING TRENDS
Notwithstanding
the challenges as mentioned above, there has been a relative change that gives
hope for the future. Increase attention is being beamed on the industry by the
media. For instance, there is now hardly any newspaper, whether established or
emerging, in Nigeria that does not devote conspicuous attention to insurance
reportage, whether consciously or instinctively. The importance of the media in
the promotion of insurance in Nigeria cannot definitely be over-emphasized.
The media
and sections of the Insurance industry are forming and developing useful
alliances. The emerging system of deploying media platforms for insurance
product distribution is a note for reference.
The
emergence and continued strong existence of the National Association of
Insurance Correspondents (NAICO).
Emergence
of special Media Insurance Events (Champion Insurance Day Business Journal
Insurance Event, Almond Consumers’ Forum etc).
Greater
rapport between the media and the Industry Regulator.
Growing
interest of media personnel in insurance education (This Day Insurance
Correspondent is now Associate of CIIN. The Nation Correspondent is writing
CIIN’s Professional examination).
Diversification
of media coverage of insurance from the traditional print to electronic (Almond
Productions on Channels and Silverbird TV, Insurance Radio by Bisi, Eko FM
slots by Iyabo, Online Blogs by Chuks Okonta (Inspenonline) and Nkechi’s
Business Today online Blog).
All of
these are eloquent testimonies of the changing tides in media reportage of
Insurance and the salutary effects on the image and perception of the Industry
today.
THE MEDIA
4.1 UNDERSTANDING THE MEDIA
A good
understanding of the media will help in the assessment of its role in the
promotion of Insurance culture.
This
paper, deliberately, will not attempt to define the media or attempt to dwell
on its history and evolution e.g. from lwe Irohin to Modern print media or even
the evolution of the Radio from the old Rediffusion boxes. (Doing a historical
thing here will amount to “taking coal to Newcastle”, as this is a largely
media audience).
What this
paper will therefore attempt to achieve will be bullet guides as follows:
Traditional
Media (Electronic and Print) and their known history and evolution.
Operation
of Traditional Media (Examples of National Newspapers, Regional Newspapers and
Local Newspapers.
Social
media. The evolution of social media and the waves it is making at the moment
cannot be ignored in a discuss of this nature.
The
internet has more or less introduced virtual media. The truth however is that
we cannot get hold of news in cyberspace very much as we can lay hold on a copy
of any of the National Newspapers. Realizing the trendy reality of virtual
media, even the traditional print media are posting their papers online.
While the
Social media has its demerits such as Viral nuisance and could be out of
control, the advantages which include
immediacy (Real time), global reach, fluidity, large space almost
unlimited, faster reach, easier and more effective storage and retrieval, cross
referencing advantages, better audio-visual support etc. are worthy of note.
4.2 DEALING WITH THE MEDIA
Let me
quote THE CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS BIBLE by Robert L. Dilenschneider (Year
2000) in capturing the real essence of knowing how to deal with the media.
“In just
about any country, you have to use great judgement in dealing with the media.
If former New York Police Commissioner, Bill Bratton had been wiser in handling
the media, he might still be commissioner. But it didn’t dawn on him often
enough to mention in media interviews how much of the credit for fighting crime
belonged to his boss, Major Rudy Giuliani”. In the same vein, if the British
Royal Family understood the media better, it would have handled Lady Diana’s
death with better caution even in its grief. The rest of the Diana controversy
is now history.
I am also
compelled to borrow the views of the globalization public relations expert, the
late Kathleen Connelly, who pointed out that “The media tends to be
idiosyncratic in each society”. Connelly further stated that “There are even
big differences between the media in the nations of the European Union”.
What this
means is:
We have to
approach the media on a country-by-country basis (Not seeing the media in
Nigeria, for example, through the British Prism).
There are
legislation and regulatory differences guiding public information from one
country to the other.
There is
need to seek advice from a local PR expert or rely on the in-house PR Manager
to deal with the media appropriately.
There are
cultural differences in global media relations, making it necessary to
understand the media culture in your jurisdiction (In Egypt, according to
DILENSCHNEIDER (Corporate Communication Bible), interacting with the newspapers
is so volatile that Public Relations people are better off bypassing them and
getting publicity directly through special events. In France, using general
papers for communicating business news rarely works out. Because the newspapers
have such small circulation, it is much more effective to discuss business news
through special events, salons, and Trade fairs. In China, as television
advertising grows more popular, the country’s over fourteen thousand newspapers
are becoming less influential.
We are
luckier in Nigeria and the media culture remains much more objective and
thorough. But we still have some local cultures to deal with through better
understanding.
4.3 HELPING THE MEDIA TO HELP US
4.3.1 Crisis Points between the Media and the Industry
Conflicting
mandates The Industry Operators are conservative with facts. Correspondents
want the facts highlighted.
Some CEOs
are regarded as “Press-shy” thus inhibiting information flow which may limit
the corporate presence in the media.
Industry
poor perception and understanding of the role and essence of media relations.
PR employees who are expected to be the mid-point between their companies and
the media are usually accorded less than optimal respect. A few companies today
are just realizing the need to engage PR professionals and only a handful truly
empower them to become integral part of Top Management and be able to influence
company media policies.
4.3.2 Developing Strong Media Engagement platforms
Need for
the Industry to create a constant mid-point of engagement like this on-going
retreat between Journalists and Insurance operators. (The Joint Industry
Retreat for the media is commendable).
Press
Conferences and Press releases must have strong point-of-viewness (Insurance
and Ebola, Insurance and Boko Haram, Insurance and collapsed building,
Insurance and kidnapping, Insurance and strong advocacy issues e.g. staying
healthy, preventing auto crash accidents, avoiding sudden death, owning one’s
home.
Engaging
audio-visuals in giving solidity to media messages. Since we live in a visual
society, it pays to construct a visual frame of reference. This includes
everything from company annual report to website. Visual impact has helped
companies like Nike, Coca cola and many Nigerian Banks like GTB and Zenith. It
is also helping some Insurance companies like Leadway. It is good to “First
Think Visually before adding the words. How our industry companies and their
employees look will have a lot to do with how the public perceive us.
What
picture or pictures come to mind when people think of our companies?
When
explaining their philosophy of business, companies should speak in terms of
visual images. If you are launching a new product it might pay to explain that
it will become as ubiquitous as the Coca cola’s red logo – The trick, according
to DILENSCHNEIDER is to make sure that your target audiences recognize the
image.
Establish
platforms that will appeal to the younger generation. Test-running our visual
or audio references may pay off because there’s a widening gap in the common
experiences of baby-booming generation and generation X’ers.
Capitalize
on media events (Events that would naturally appeal to the Media e.g. Media
Talks, Media Dinners, Media Awards, Media
Lectures, Media Tours, Media Day, Media etc.)
INSURANCE
INDUSTRY TODAY
5.1 EMERGING ISSUES
No Premium
No Cover
The Local
Content (Capital flight)
MDRI
Increasing
issues of compliance, both legislative and financial e.g. IFRS, Emerging
regulations etc.
Financial
Inclusion Strategy
Attempts
at countering the activities of fake operators.
Market
agreement issues
Off-shore
offices
Insurance
stocks (Penny stocks?)
Investor
issues
5.2 THREAT TO INDUSTRY SURVIVAL
Poor
Standard of living of Nigerians and their low disposable income.
Poor
attitude to savings and risk management unlike what we have in other developed
jurisdictions.
Increasing
environment of uncertainty and crimes (Boko Haram, Kidnapping etc. issues of
underwriting of emerging risks).
Faking of
insurance certificates
Industry
practices that are not consistent with sustainability
Cut-throat
competition
Poor
industry database
Skills gap
in highly technical areas of insurance operations e.g. Marine and Aviation, Oil
and Gas etc
Poor
attitude to training and human capital development comes to mind
Less than
optimal financial literacy.
MEDIA
INTERVENTION ROLE
If the
media understands the problems and challenges facing the Insurance Industry, it
would be in a better position to report the industry more objectively and with
empathy.
Need for
better creativity on the part of the Journalists (They should think more out of
the Box, Be eager to highlight issues that will develop the industry than the
ones more likely to pull it down.
Media
should reinforce its insurance dedicated coverage e.g. Insurance weekly pages,
Insurance Journals, Online blogs.
Media
should be in partnership with the industry in driving the change process.
Media
needs greater patience to grasp insurance details before any publication
Journalists
should not thrive on sensational reporting of insurance news etc.
Need to
serve as veritable mechanism for feedback. The media as purveyors of
information should dedicate some special editions or sections to feedback from
insuring public. This will position the media as a gauge of public opinion
whilst also helping the insurance companies to serve them better with deeper
and better insights into consumer expectations.
Media
should better develop its agenda setting function (set agenda for government,
draw attention to challenges facing the industry, what government needs to do
to protect the insurance sector and help it grow e.g. promulgation of
beneficial laws, ensuring compliance and enforcement of insurance laws,
discouraging capital flight through oversea insurances when there is local
content capacity etc.
Media
should be more visible in public education by promoting knowledge and
understanding of technical words used by insurers. These words should be
simplified with explanations of the process of effecting insurance, the role of
each party in the insurance contract, the expectation of the insurer from the
insured, claims procedure, arbitration procedures and avoidance of conflict
situations.
Media
ought to engender status conferral: celebrate underwriters, make Nigerians see
insurance as part of their everyday life, make the upcoming generation see
insurers as role models. The media has made musicians and those in the
entertainment industry, why can’t they write articles and comments, features on
worthy insurers and companies that have performed well.
News
Editors should not substitute other stories considered more interesting than
insurance stories especially in insurance devoted page(s).
CONCLUSION
This paper
will be incomplete without acknowledging the role of the successive leadership
of the National Association of Insurance Correspondents (NAICO) as well as the
crop of its committed members.
The
Association has successfully galvanized the team of insurance journalists,
ensuring that its members remain committed and disciplined.
Part of
the objectives for the Joint Industry Media Retreat was a recognition of the
exemplary leadership of NAICO and the need to continually foster the industry
partnership with the Association in line with the vision of various sectors of
the Insurance Industry in ensuring greater public presence in the positive and
beneficial direction.
It is also
necessary to acknowledge the industry leadership in the actualization of this
Retreat despite the challenges initially envisaged
Lastly, it
is pertinent to state that this paper should not be regarded as the NIA
point-of-view; it is a paper for our general education for the purpose of
working together for more progress.
Once
again, let me convey the appreciation of the industry for the co-operation of
NAICO and for the large turn-out at this Retreat.
Thank you
for your attention.
O.S.
THOMAS
Director-General
Nigerian
Insurers Association
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