AILA President’s message - June 2022

with Cameron Roberts


 

AILA rebrand emphasises insurance not just law

AILA has launched a rebrand to better emphasise that it is an association for everyone involved in the insurance industry, not just lawyers.

A 2019 survey of current, lapsed and non-members identified an erroneous perception that AILA was an organisation just for insurance lawyers. It was a recurring theme in the survey, and we’ve been incorrectly labelled in the past as “the insurance lawyers’ association”.

As recently as the 2022 Steadfast Convention, I encountered industry professionals who thought AILA was exclusively for insurance lawyers.

The survey also identified that too many respondents saw AILA as old-fashioned.

Before you can rectify a problem, you must first identify, acknowledge and accept responsibility for it.

The Board recognised that our industry perception and branding were not meeting the needs of members and prospective members and in 2019 commissioned an external marketing agency to conduct a review, which included the survey.

Consequently, the Board embarked on a journey of change and the rebranding is a bold step on that pathway.

The rebranding aims to emphasise that we’re an association for everyone. Unlike organisations devoted to specific demographics within insurance, AILA embraces broader representation.

A key strategy with the rebranding is to illustrate that AILA is a modern, collegial organisation dedicated to education for everyone in the insurance industry, regardless of whether they are direct participants – like brokers, underwriters, claims managers, reinsurers, and loss adjusters – or service providers, like lawyers.

After digesting the review and survey results, the National Board commissioned Brisbane-based Mino Design & Digital to develop a new logo.

The predominant colour is navy, and the logo’s design emphasises the word ‘insurance’ more than ‘law’. In the logo, the letter I for insurance is in a more dominant colour than the letter L.

A series of subject-oriented sub-logos reflect specific areas of AILA’s work, for example property@AILA, life@AILA and casualty@AILA.

AILA’s key focus is insurance education, and insurance law impacts on everything related to insurance, including regulation, claims management, underwriting, and risk analysis. We also focus on soft skills, like the mentoring program and presentations on marketing your personal brand.

We want the mphasis to be more on the insurance industry, rather than just insurance law.

That was the philosophy behind AILA in 2019 introducing a cheaper annual industry membership rate of only $50.

AILA is also focused on delivering to all in the insurance industry, regardless of role, product line, sex, sexual orientation, age or any other criteria.

While bold, the rebrand is just one of several steps the AILA Board will take to achieve our goal of expanding the membership and connecting with everyone involved in the insurance industry.

To that end, while the rebranding is emphasised on a “reskinned” AILA website, AILA’s longer-term plan is to launch a more user-friendly, mobile-friendly site towards the end of 2022.

There will also be more member benefits to come as AILA positions itself as an industry-leading body for the insurance industry.

AILA National Conference

A reminder, the National Conference is in Sydney on 10-12 August 2022.

AILA’s flagship event has been postponed for two years, but we’re now confident it can finally proceed. The organising committee has worked hard to assemble an impressive array of high-calibre speakers and excellent social events, so mark your diaries.

Topics include global trends in insurance regulation, the impact of climate change for insurers, class actions, autonomous vehicles, the fallout from Covid-19, and cyber claims. The conference dinner is at Luna Park.

Registrations are now open – book here. I look forward to welcoming members to Sydney in August and sharing this face-to-face conference with you.

XVI AIDA World Congress 2023

Melbourne is the proud host city for the AIDA 2023 World Congress.

The event is scheduled for 30 August to 1 September at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. 

The eyes of the international insurance world will be on Australia and we look forward to having international guests visit our shores for this major event in the global insurance calendar.

It is an honour for Australia to host a World Congress, but also a tribute to AILA’s position as AIDA’s most active chapter.

That’s an accolade and a responsibility we take seriously, which is why AILA has offered reciprocal memberships to our colleagues at ILAS in Singapore and NZILA. Offering AILA content at member rates to ILAS and NZILA members enhances the value of their memberships and is a bonus for our members who can also participate in online events in those nations at member prices.