The level of innovativeness of each insurance company can be assessed in different ways. If we choose the most prestigious economic media in the Czech Republic, Hospodářské noviny, as the arbiter, then the first place in recent years has been occupied by Pillow pojišťovna.
What is the competition about?
Hospodářské noviny has been awarding the Best Bank and Best Insurance Company awards for 15 years. Competing in several categories, the competition prides itself on its effort to make decisions based on objective data and indicators. There is no subjective more or less anonymous jury, but hard data.
Between 2009 and 2022, the Insurance Innovator of the Year category was also part of the competition (cancelled in 2023 and replaced by the ESG category). The aim of this category was to draw attention to the best insurance innovations on the Czech market. The first year in 2009 was won by Aegon Pojišťovna, which no longer operates in the Czech Republic, with Invest & Live Life Insurance, in the following years Allianz often took the gold (e.g. 2017 for the first insurance based on mileage), but Uniqa, ČSOB and RSA Direct also won.
Breakthrough year 2020
The turning point came in 2020. That’s when the completely new (and then small) insurance company Pillow appeared on the market with its motor insurance offer. Its motor coverage, which it started offering just that year, brought many unprecedented benefits to the market. Its basis is the fair calculation of insurance premium based on mileage. If the client drives less than he expected, Pillow will reimburse him for each kilometer a precisely determined amount, which is part of the policy. The usefulness of the approach was tested by the covid epidemic, during which most clients received refunds for kilometers not driven.
However, this insurance has many other benefits – for example, the valuation of a personal car by the insurer (i.e. without underinsurance), unlimited coverage of all vehicle windows or very simple modular approach where the client can set the necessary coverage very easily according to his or her needs. Despite all these indisputable advantages, it was a big surprise for everyone that Pillow won the insurance innovator in 2020! It managed to beat all the big and established traditional insurance companies. And in retrospect, it must be said that it was absolutely deserved. By the end of 2023, this coverage was already used by 172,000 vehicles, which represents an unprecedented increase, unseen in the past on the Czech market.
Defending victory in 2021
Pillow applied with its new accident and illness insurance in the year 2021. It was also a very revolutionary solution. There was no non-life accident and illness insurance product on the Czech market with a similar coverage in that time. For many clients, it represents a very suitable alternative to risk life insurance, which will take care of any problems with illnesses or accidents. Compared to life insurance, it is easier to conclude the policy. The innovations were, for example, automated health underwriting, coverage of fractures and burns or insurance of permanent consequences of diseases. And wonder of the world, Pillow defended its victory. Once again, it showed that even in a very conservative insurance market there is still something new to create.
Golden hat-trick in 2022
In 2022, Pillow introduced its third insurance product, namely property and liability insurance. The product came at a time of very high inflation. At the time, Pillow was the first on the market to offer a no-underinsurance guarantee. If the client accepts its proposal for the sum insured, the insurance company undertakes not to apply underinsurance. Although this approach was later adopted by many insurance companies, the range of offers and guarantees for all sums insured is still unique today. Of course, insurance has many other benefits, as a very limited set of sublimits, broad coverage or understandable insurance of things outside the place of insurance. It comes out very well in all detailed qualitative comparations of insurance parameters, of which hundreds can be defined for property and liability coverages.
This product arrived at the arena of the last year’s Insurance Innovator of the Year award, and it won here again. Pillow celebrated a golden hat-trick, becoming the only insurance company in the competition’s history to win this award with each of its products.