Is 'Earth Hour' still a thing?

Since the beginning in 2007, Earth Hour has been known for the "lights off"-campaign that engaged people all over the planet. The campaign was originally created both as a symbolic act to support the environment, as well as a way to promote and encourage communities and companies to make environmentally conscious decisions in their daily lives. Earth Hour was created to demonstrate how those millions of decisions can add up together to a major change.

In previous years, lights were even turned off in the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Sydney Opera House, the ancient Acropolis in Athens as well as Colosseum in Rome.

Since Earth Hours' inception in 2007, the campaign has evolved, and now also consists of alternative and easy (and fun!) suggestions of acts to support the planet. The theme for 2023's Earth Hour is "Invest in Our Planet", which the list of suggested and alternative ways to participate in the campaign clearly shows. Find the list here below.

20 alternative ways one can take part in Earth Hour:

1. Switch off your lights

2. Dinner-in-the-dark

3. Listen to a podcast

4. Have a night of board games or book readings in candle-light

5. Up your knowledge on climate change

6. Watch an educational video

7. Camp in your backyard or living room

8. Pick up litter in your local park

9. Clear out your wardrobe and donate unwanted clothes to charity

10. Replace non-eco friendly items in your home with sustainable alternatives

11. Practice some night-photography

12. Install energy efficient light bulbs around your house

13. Go for a walk outdoors

14. Use Google Lens to learn about plants and animals in your neighbourhood

15. Try out stargazing

16. Go forest bathing

17. Meditate outdoors

18. Birdwatch from your window

19. Sort out your recycling

20. Join an Earth Hour event near you

(Source: Euronews)

Switch of the lights and grab a book...

Earth Hour 2023 takes place Saturday the 25th of March between 8:30 and 9:30 pm local time. Read more at: https://www.earthhour.org/

Rental is the new black – Flecto and Omocom in new collaboration

Flecto is the platform that helps businesses thrive in the circular economy by centralising all the essentials to manage rental operations in one single platform: from managing stock all the way to building online rental stores.

Flecto was founded in Portugal back in 2016 and went by Rnters at the time, a peer-to-peer rental marketplace. They had big ambitions and wanted to make renting easy with their marketplace for all types of products: from the smallest, like a camera or a speaker, to the largest, like a surfboard. The success was outstanding and, as of 2022, as they continued to believe that equipment should be affordable and accessible to everyone, Rnters rebranded themselves and became Flecto, a rental management software for businesses and retailers.

Since 2023, Flecto and Swedish founded insurtech company Omocom have entered a

collaboration that enables all Flecto rentals to be insured during the rental period.

In addition to providing greater safety, the insurance program is also lowering the threshold for companies that typically would hesitate to let others rent valuable products. The Omocom insurance is automatically included in the offer, and the insurance solution is seamlessly embedded in Flecto’s digital flows for a smooth and seamless user experience.

Flecto is available worldwide, though Omocom’s Insurance solution will only cover the

Portuguese and Spanish markets for now. Omocom will therefore also provide claims support in local language, which is always included and a natural part of the service provided.

100% hassle-free customer experience

Both Flecto and Omocom value and put big effort and pride into providing smooth and

hassle-free experiences for all involved parties. Whenever a user decides to enable this first-of-its-kind integration, insurance will protect every item that is registered in Flecto rental against theft and damage. The customer experience will therefore be fully seamless, all the way from a Flecto rental to an Omocom claim and reimbursement.

Circular incitements

The name Flecto is latin for curve, bend or curl, which means the change of direction needed in retail: to support a new generation of people and businesses redefine consumer habits.

The name Omocom originates from the Swedish saying ”om och om”, which translates ”again and again” and refers to things to be used over and over again to increase the use of existing resources, for a more sustainable future.

Just like Omocom, Flecto’s goal is to support a new generation of people and businesses by redefining consumer habits, for a sustainable future.

W. R. Berkley is risk carrier of the insurance.

Read more about Flecto and Omocom.

Trendspotting 2023

What does insurance have to do with tech and lifestyle trends? A whole lot, we think.

At the start of a new year, articles about the predicted trends are popular. The traditional hot-or-not lists that used to be common in gossip magazines have made a comeback, and are a fun and easily digestible way to quickly get an overview of what the present and future might look like.

Insurance may not be immediately associated with something you'd usually read about on a cool hot-or-not list, but in fact, insurance is about just that - predicting the future, based on historical events and trends.

We've scoped out some current tech and lifestyle trends, and tied the content to circularity and insurance. 🔮Simple and seamless UX-experiences

With a population as digitalized as Europe's, we as consumers take for granted that digital interactions with businesses are both simple and seamless.

By constantly evaluating and improving all touchpoints, including consumer, platform and staff, we ensure that we eliminate all unnecessary steps for a seamless user experience, while maintaining and improving the operational efficiency of the company.

Consumers want insurers to be more engaged, accessible and share progress and information in real time during a claim. Insurance surveys show that 95% of consumers want to hear about the status of their claims more often.

🔮Crafting, recycling and reducing consumption

In 2023, we will continue to repair, create and rent. On TikTok, videos about "Eco hacks" and "Zero Waste Living" are trending.

It's no longer considered cool to show off your over-consumption of new gadgets you've shopped for in a "Haul" video, but instead you're encouraging your friends and followers about which SecondHand stores have the best selection, and how to sew your grandmother's old bedspread into a cool jacket.

Instead of buying new stuff, we rent each other's vehicles, tools and gadgets via apps like Hygglo and GoMore and MyCamper, and transport (or recycle!) our secondhand finds using Tiptapp.

🔮Ethics, morality and fairness

Some who are leading the way and clearly demonstrating that they take ethics and morality into account in their consumption choices are the values-driven Generation Z. Ethics, morality and fairness are important, and they make conscious choices through the way they live, consume and work and are not shy about speaking up if something is not up to scratch.

Climate impact, animal testing, and poor working conditions are often or always included in the evaluation when approaching new suppliers and Gen Z are not late in informing their peers of their moral evaluations.

Greenwashing and pinkwashing are seen through by Gen Z directly, and they appreciate as much transparency as possible to feel confident that the supplier/brand they are going to use is safe to associate with their own personal brand.

Of course, there are many more than Gen Z who fit the description above, but it's an interesting group to look at, given that they move quickly between digital environments and have grown up in a world of climate threats and crises.

And what about the connection to insurance? As in any industry, it would probably be wise to take lessons but more importantly inspiration from this generation, with such high standards of digitalization and UX as well as personal engagement and accessibility. If you can charm Gen Z, you've succeeded. Sort of :)

🔮Wearable technology

Smartwatches, and even smart rings, continue to evolve, with new models and brands being launched all the time.

Wearable technology can capture information such as sleep quality, heart rate, body temperature, and menstrual cycle information. In addition to giving the consumer of a smartwatch their own insight into their health, there is the potential to use all this aggregated data to provide sharper insights that enable, for example, personalized premium settings.

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Our world has changed and continues to change faster than ever. The effects of pandemics, wars, energy crises, inflation and recession, among others, are enormous. One of the effects is that we will hold on to our pennies and our existing resources more tightly because of the current energy crisis and recession. According to surveys, insurance will continue to be seen as an important product, and it is for exactly these reasons that insurance exists - financial protection for when things don't go exactly as planned.

It seems that sustainability, transparency and digitalisation will continue to drive innovation and growth in the insurance industry. Do you agree, and how do you see the future and trends in insurance, tech and lifestyle? 🔮 Please write to us and tell us!