Someone at AIG must have a sense of humor. The bailed-out insurance behemoth — and, more importantly, one-time Worst Company In America champ — has announced it will now offer insurance policies that help defray the costs for damage control after a company does something that puts in the ranks of widely reviled businesses like AIG.

AIG’s “ReputationGuard” policy, being sold through its Chartis property-casualty group, pays out when a policyholder faces a public relations crisis and needs to hire either of two big-time PR firms, Burson-Marsteller or Porter Novelli.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Companies often turn to such crisis-communications firms when they need help shaping their responses to events that could cause lasting damage to their brands or their businesses, such as product recalls, data breaches, executive scandals–or government bailouts.

“When we talk to our clients, reputational concerns are right at the top of the list of things they worry about,” explains a Chartis exec.

The Journal points out that the 2009 rebranding of AIG’s Chartis division — formerly AIU Holdings — was itself a deliberate move by the company to keep the AIG name on the down-low.

AIG used the services of Burson-Marsteller following the 2008 bailout that saved the company from sinking into the sea like the lost city of Atlantis… but ya know, with lots of insurance executives.

Emerging From Crisis, AIG Offers Crisis-Communications Insurance [WSJ.com]

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