LONDON — Communications agency Borkowski, led by PR and crisis veteran Mark Borkowski, has introduced the first insurance product designed to protect individuals against the fallout of “cancel culture”.

Borkowski has launched Preempt, a suite of crisis communications services backed by an insurance policy, to mitigate against reputation damage caused by negative media and social media coverage, including subjective criticism.

The new policy is underwritten by malicious and hostile risk insurance specialist Samphire Risk, which also covers kidnap, extortion and blackmail. Borkowski developed the product in partnership with the policy’s risk partner and broker RepuTitan, and the partnership also includes risk management and crisis response firm Merrill Herzog as providers of round-the-clock triage support.

As well as research, analysis, monitoring and training designed to prevent potential reputation issues in advance, Preempt includes 60 days of communications work and counsel by Borkowski’s crisis and reputation management team, to pre-emptively or reactively tackle issues such as social media backlash, misinformation, deep fakes, or even rumours.

The product is aimed at individuals likely to be the subject of negative publicity, including celebrities, business leaders, athletes and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI), and provides 24/7 support via a crisis hotline that policyholders can use to report a potential issue even if it has not yet appeared on any public forum.

Borkowski said the policy was the first of its kind to cover issues stemming from the “culture wars” and “cancel culture”, which have damaged public figures’ reputations, businesses, financial stability and mental health, even when there is no suggestion that they have broken the law, or any official rules or regulations covered by existing reputation insurance.

He said: “One negative media story or social media pile-on can, overnight, destroy a reputation that’s taken decades to build. The professional, financial, personal and psychological fallout from these incidents can be catastrophic. Being in the public eye has never been so precarious, but many are totally unprepared and act too late to save their reputation. PREEMPT is a service unlike anything else in terms of offering those concerned about their reputation or legacy peace of mind in an increasingly challenging world.”

Borkowski – who founded his firm 36 years ago after starting out as a publicist – told PRovoke Media that he first came up with the idea for the policy around five years ago, but had been repeatedly told by insurance underwriters that it was “impossible”. Since Samphire Risk came on board, the new product has taken more than two years to develop.

He said: “What I find is that 80% of our crisis work – which is predominantly what we do now – comes when people are in the middle of or facing a crisis, and they have turned to a lawyer first, who brings us in. Sometimes the die is already cast, if the aggressive nature the client feels a lawyer should have has made things worse. As soon as a story is out there and tabloids put it online, they might bring it down, but the damage is done, giving individuals scared of cancel culture sleepless nights. I’ve seen too many good people trashed by social media.”

Borkowski said the new product was, as its name suggests, about pre-empting an online reputation crisis: "It's about being aware – people who want to ensure their reputation has the best chance of survival or redemption can have this in their back pocket. We have various tools to assess and advise on risk, we talk to them about their fears and can go in and deal with any issues they think they have – which is often not as bad as they think.

“We’ve already had a lot of phone calls from sports people and agencies representing celebrities, as well as academics and corporate leaders. This is aimed at people who get thrown into things because they are not really aware of PR, or have been thrown under the bus, or just treasure their privacy. It’s an investment in your reputation.”

On how the partners worked together to calculate risk and the value of reputation for an insurance product, Borkowski told PRovoke Media: “We’ve given them as many scenarios as possible, that we have and haven’t dealt with. We’ve looked at everything from falls from grace, to people being sucked into something where they are only tentatively involved. So there’s no fixed price for this – it depends on so many things, such as if you are retired or A-list, or if there have been a series of historical events.”

But he said the policy was not for everyone: “If you have seriously transgressed, or go out to be disruptive, you could argue that you’re not known for your good reputation, or that it is even part of your brand.”

Policyholders will have the option to take part in a reputation management masterclass from a roster of crisis management heavyweights including Borkowski and others with senior journalism experience, such as former Independent editor Chris Blackhurst, and former senior editorial figures at the likes of Reach and News UK.