Chartered insurance broker Verlingue – which established a dedicated media practice earlier this year – is sponsoring Prolific North’s Independent Agencies to Watch list next month.
Here client director Michael Treasure pens an ode to the “truly impressive” work done by marketing and advertising agencies…
Every few years I reflect on the exciting work that marketing and advertising agencies do for their clients, and every time I do, I feel in awe.
It is truly impressive how this creative industry pushes boundaries to help their clients win market share, connect with consumers and manage to dig deep into people’s psyche to associate an image or a tune – however brief – with a particular commodity or experience. I don’t think there is a single industry more aligned to benefit from Pavlov’s Condition Theory and able to capitalise from the study’s insight into the mind – the mind of the consumer.
With every new idea on how to advertise brands, products and services there are, of course, new considerations to be made in the creative hinterland, the necessary world of contracts and general mechanics which enable the front line to fulfil its potential, without the agency signing its life away if something goes wrong. That’s where we fit in, the agency insurance broker, the paper pushers who try to keep up with the artistic powerhouses of colourful talent able to create a perfect world, if we just bought XXX.
The mantra in our media insurance team at Verlingue is “Never Stunt the Creativity”. For 20 years we have aimed to enable agencies to fulfil their potential, and to provide them with the much-needed backup and protection for their clients’ investments to create something awesome and memorable.
I must say that our mantra at times has driven me mad, because I have been unable to see how the production idea on paper could be brought to life without at least one person getting severely hurt or worse, and lots of stuff getting damaged, with negative publicity being the only result. But each time I am proven wrong, and I am grateful for it.
To ensure agencies have the correct insurance cover in place, we must navigate the world of the risk buyers – the insurance companies – and sell the creative project to them with as much enthusiasm and skill as we can.
We need to tell them how well the project is thought through and planned, how capable each party in the project is and what can be done if there is a break in the chain along the way. The skydivers, the rock climbers, the race driving and the ‘jump through a window’, the animals, and the amazing outdoor build on top of a mountain, it all has to be covered so we don’t break the mantra. And in the main we do find a solution to progress. Often our clients are blissfully unaware of the extensive negotiations that go on behind the scenes – and the increasing grey hair that comes with it – but that is what we are here for, and that is what brings us joy.
We try to work with our clients in a very un-corporate way and to place robust insurance cover which meets the general need of each individual creative agency. But it does not stop there. Far from it. We aim to be the go-to department and act as part of the team at every turn. We work with our clients’ creative teams on every aspect of their production or PR/marketing project work to help risk manage these and encourage a plan B where possible alongside insurance.
There are so many aspects to think of, depending on the complexity of the project, and it is important to step back and tick them off one at a time without getting sucked into the excitement of the project itself. We guide our clients when working with celebrity talent, provide comments on client contracts from an insurance point of view, and, of late, get quite involved when working with influencers and the extra “spice” they can bring.
And, if there are ever any problems, which there occasionally are, we are there to help find a solution, help with the claim and hopefully help save the agency’s relationship with the brand at the other end.
Thank you to this bright, exciting and creative industry for challenging us insurance bods every day with your ideas and ground-breaking projects. We feel challenged, yet inspired by what you ask us to find solutions for and make us marvel at what we ourselves are sometimes capable of – helping to enable the creativity.
