Willis Towers Watson Reputational Crisis Insurance Solution: Powered by Polecat

Reputational Crisis Insurance

Reputational risk is one of the most dynamic and systemic risks facing modern companies. Greater public and shareholder scrutiny with regards to a board’s fulfilment of fiduciary duties has resulted in greater pressure on companies to prepare for and mitigate against reputational crises.

In response to this growing problem and in response to the fact that intangible assets comprise an ever-higher proportion of total enterprise value, Polecat is proud to partner with Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company in developing a new suite of insurance products led by the Reputational Crisis Insurance solution.

The Reputation Crisis Insurance solution is an innovative risk management tool, incorporating Polecat's cutting-edge technology to drive proactive risk management and responsive crisis management insurance covering critical costs to businesses resulting from negative impact to their corporate reputation.

Also working with Liberty Specialty Markets, a leading global insurance company with an exceptional financial rating, we are helping RCI clients to comprehensively mitigate and transfer this potentially huge reputational risk threat.

What is Reputational Risk?

Reputation is a broad subject that has a different meaning to different people. As a major intangible asset, reputation has grown to comprise a significant proportion of many companies' entire market capitalisation. Reputational risk is the potential loss to this financial capital, social capital and/or market share resulting from damage to a firm's reputation, measured predominantly in lost revenue, increased operating, capital or regulatory costs, or destruction of shareholder value.

The forces that affect reputation have multiplied over the past decade with the pace of change seemingly increasing by the minute.

Changing demographics, falling public trust, rising state and non-state manipulation of public opinion and the exponential rise in both the quality and quantity of data are all factors driving a new reputational landscape for the companies to navigate.

From disease outbreaks, employee or customer abuse to terrorist incidents, the risk factors affecting reputation and brand resilience are growing, as is pressure on companies' risk management and executive functions to adequately protect their businesses.

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Critical Reputation Risk Intelligence

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Polecat’s AI-enabled solutions interrogate the universe of unstructured data – everything published online and publicly available on social media – to enable companies to anticipate and manage potential and emerging risks and opportunities for their reputation.

Our RepVault solution enables RCI customers to intuitively see their reputation landscape of issues/topics, stakeholders and peer performance on-demand and in real-time, putting corporate reputation at the heart of the strategic decision making process.

  • Flexible topic groupings let customers map and interrogate their landscape according to precise reputation drivers
  • Understand how the corporate brand is viewed across ESG, Reputation or Risk lenses to uncover opportunities and perils that define business performance today
  • Pinpoint the key external stakeholders (eg. NGOs, Activist Investors, Think Tanks etc) involved in conversation around insured perils and gain perception of the corporate brand across these groups
  • Gain foresight around the issues developing on the horizon, so you can plan your response now
  • Improve the speed and efficiency on delivery of insight around changing trends

Company Executives frequently articulate how hard it can be to identify and manage reputation-harming events, with many saying that they are taking positive action to invest in products and services that can help them to understand the situation and scan the horizon for threats. This is exactly what Polecat is providing to a large range of blue chip organisations.

Polecat's partnership with Willis Towers Watson and Liberty Speciality Markets allows us to bring critical reputational intelligence to new markets in a truly innovative way, delivering the ability for companies to mitigate and protect the bottom-line through the actionable insights that corporate reputation professionals need to make key decisions.

Polecat solutions support many of the world’s largest and most high-profile global businesses, across multiple sectors. Our products and services allow you to:

  • Put corporate reputation at the heart of strategic decision-making processes
  • Reduce over-reliance on budget heavy, expensive consulting services
  • Monitor reputation campaigns that directly impact the corporate brand
  • Gain foresight around issues happening on the horizon, so you can plan your response now
  • Improve the speed and efficiency on delivery of insight around changing trends
  • Gain perceptions of the corporate brand across key stakeholder groups: NGOs, politicians, activist investors etc.

Comments

Portrait of James Lawn

James Lawn

Co-CEO, Polecat Intelligence

"We’re delighted Willis Towers Watson and Liberty Mutual have chosen us to be at the heart of the RCI product. Reputation management is about valuing properties that were previously intangible - trust, goodwill and licence to operate in the courts of public opinion as well as law.

Polecat technology looks at the universe of global discourse to deliver real-time intelligence and impact metrics on previously intangible dimensions of corporate reputation.

We are proud to be the partner of choice for many of the world’s leading companies when it comes to actionable intelligence and data, and we look forward to serving and strengthening the reputations of future RCI policy holders"

Portrait of Garret Gaughan

Garret Gaughan

Head of Global Markets P&C Hub, Willis Towers Watson

“Successful and long-lasting modernisation for the insurance industry will be characterised by insurers and brokers providing proactive, rather than reactive, risk management solutions that integrate new and exciting technology capabilities alongside well-adapted but still evolving insurance risk transfer mechanisms. As part of the paradigm shift required to ensure the continued value and relevance of the insurance industry to customers in the shadow of a wave of emerging risks, Polecat’s technology may prove to be revolutionary for company risk, public relations and executive functions’ understanding of the reputational data ecosystem and their place in the public’s eyes. Long presumed the territory of science-fiction, but now very much ‘science-fact’, the capabilities Polecat has developed can help companies navigate the stormy waters of reputation in the modern world, scanning open-source data for threats on the horizon and helping companies to engage with post-crisis communications in the most effective manner possible: where, how and when the conversation is actually taking place.”

+44 (0) 7786 026 330
+44 (0) 20 7558 9327 Garret.Gaughan@WillisTowersWatson.com

Portrait of Lewis Edwards

Lewis Edwards

Head of Underwriting, Specialty Binders, Liberty Specialty Markets

“Clients’ increasing exposure to both traditional media and social media has led to a rise in reputational losses globally. Most Reputational products in the market currently only respond to the crisis communication fees incurred following a reputational crisis event.

This new product is one of the few that provides coverage for the loss of an organisation’s gross profit following such an event- providing financial protection and also giving clients the tools they need to protect their reputation. The ability to act quickly and transparently can have a hugely positive impact on a crisis outcome.”

Direct Line +44 (0) 20 3758 0425
lewis.edwards@libertyglobalgroup.com