Behind the memes – Instagram’s ‘The Hard Market’

Young insurance professionals will likely have a favourite meme or two from the cult social media persona ‘The Hard Market’.

Its creator, speaking to GR anonymously, points out that while its Instagram following of 65,000 is small compared to lifestyle influencers, engagement is relatively high because the content is tailored to the sector.

“What makes it work is listening to what people want: industry humour, pay review transparency, and above all, education,” Hard Market says.

For London underwriters, the “four stages” Daniel Craig meme is a firm favourite. In the US, it might be “The 7 brokers you meet in hell”.

“People direct message me saying, ‘make a joke about property’ or ‘do something on reinsurance’, and they help me with the context. That’s how the community drives the content,” Hard Market adds.

Ripe for humour

The brand has become a source of irreverent humour, capturing unspoken truths many in the industry think but rarely say to bosses or senior management.

“Insurance is ripe for humour because we’re all in it together. If you can laugh about the things we all go through every day, it’s cathartic, and there’s something even funnier about insurance because people take it so seriously,” Hard Market says.

“It’s a goofy business. It’s important, and it supports our families, but a lot of how the industry functions is wonderfully absurd when you step back and look at it.

“This isn’t necessarily insurance-specific, but I find corporate comms to be an especially rich source of humour. They need to be seen to be saying something, so you end up with these garbled word salads full of corporate speak that don’t really say anything.

“You can read an internal email 15 times and still not know what it actually means. There are great laughs in that.”

Occasionally the humour carries more serious undertones. “Sometimes something is spin, or a warning. It’s wonderful that we can all laugh at it, but it’s also important we discuss it.”

The return-to-work debate is a good example, they explain. “Some in the industry pushed back and secured exceptions that allowed them to keep flexibility. Others recognised when their company was fully committed to office work and understood they would need to relocate, arrange school pickups, or look for a different job.”

Shift in tone

While the creator insists on anonymity, they are equally clear that the account was never intended as a business venture. “I’ve never been in it for the money. This isn’t a career replacement. I’ll never quit my day job.”

The goal has also shifted since 2019, moving beyond simple gossip or jokes at the industry’s expense. “My aim isn’t to be a gossip rag. If a company isn’t having fun with a post, I’ll take it down. It’s meant to be fun – teasing each other without isolating anyone,” Hard Market says.

More recently, the focus has also moved away from highlighting only the negative. “That kind of content just kept spiralling and bumming everybody out. One person would post about something unjust, everyone would pile on, and suddenly it just became overwhelming. The snippets weren’t always in context, and we were losing the point,” Hard Market notes.

“I flipped it, so instead of only saying ‘look at this terribly unfair thing that keeps happening,’ I started posting about events that got things right – saying: ‘Look at this incredibly inclusive or innovative thing this firm is doing that people are excited about.’

“Suddenly senior execs went from avoiding the Hard Market, to taking it seriously, and wanting to share their firm’s efforts with the community.”

Now people want to share their good work through the account.

“Engagement has gone way up. We are still advocating for the industry but without stressing everyone out all the time,” Hard Market adds.

Advocacy and education

The memes remain central, but the account has also taken on a more serious role, particularly around education and salary transparency through the new Hard Market website.

Previously, pay data was collected informally and posted online in raw spreadsheets. “It was messy. I had to get an actuary to help format it,” Hard Market says. “This year we’ve built the survey straight into the website. It’s completely anonymous and feeds into a live spreadsheet that anyone can check.

You can filter by gender, race, location, role, years in the job, bonus structure – whatever you choose to share.”

No employer names will appear – the aim is to help people understand their market value based on experience and geography. “The data pertaining to experience, geography, and years in a role were far more valuable than comparing one employer against another.

“For the most part, firms all pay the same. If there is an anomaly somewhere, it’s usually team, manager, or circumstance-specific.

The real devil is in the details of how people are moving through the ranks. Those who don’t put up a fight come pay review are the outliers.”

Followers have been spurred into seeking better pay. “People have told me they’ve taken that data straight to their bosses and used it to negotiate raises. That kind of transparency has power. And I think this year’s version is going to break the server because it’ll be the single biggest traffic driver we’ve ever had.”

The creator sees education as the next big step.

“People routinely message with questions, wanting to better understand the many quirks of the industry. Right now, their only option is platforms behind paywalls. I want to change that.

“We’re partnering with one of a US education provider so people can earn proper designations through Hard Market, but we’ll go further. The idea is to crowdsource expertise across the industry.

If you’re a broker who knows more about, say, mining insurance than anyone, we’ll host your webinar. If you’re an underwriter with the best white papers on Florida wind, we’ll share them,” Hard Market says.

“For the expert, it’s incredible advertising, and for the industry it’s a chance to learn from the people you work with. My goal is to be the place people actually come to learn – not just to get credits.”

Podcast plans

While nothing is imminent, the idea of launching a podcast is on the horizon. “I still need to figure out how that would work with disguising my voice, but the intent would be the same as Instagram and the website. I see myself as the bus driver for content, bringing people together and steering the conversation,” they add.

“I’d interview people, discuss recent case law or coverage issues, talk about industry trends, and just chat about what it’s like doing deals in whatever environment we’re in.

“We’ve got a lot to build first. There’s a full team building out the brand, but it’s very much a labour of love, nights-and-weekends hobby.”

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