2011 Gold Financial services

01 Dec 2011

Client MORE TH>N

What is wonderful about this work? We used trust to drive confidence, optimising return and avoiding self-destructive price wars. MORE TH>N Freeman is imaginative, humorous and playful – an engaging character that differentiated in a dry, cluttered sector. We drove lead growth of 10% while decreasing spend by 18%.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? The insurance sector is tough. The aggregator model delivers transparency to pricing claims, causing a downward spiral of providers cutting costs and quality of cover to appear competitive. MORE TH>N didn’t aspire to being the cheapest provider on aggregators, so our challenge was to create a campaign which justified selection based on more than price. Our research found that people are highly motivated by price, but feared putting the product to test, so they didn’t automatically buy the cheapest quote. They frequently recalled brand ambassadors but struggled to attach any purpose or value to them. They would use

aggregators, websites, reviews, internet searches and call centres before purchase and were utterly fed up of being talked at like idiots. We aimed to increase the association of the brand with trust, creating a multi-media campaign that would deliver fame, salience and cut-through while maintaining an intelligent level of respect for our audience.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? We found the perfect shortcut: a persona with so much trust associated, it was impossible to ignore – MORETH>N Freeman. He came to life in a series of ads quickly followed by a multi-layered campaign. Creating films that were beautifully shot and a pleasure to watch reinforced quality perceptions. We created clear boundaries between different media, allowing potential customers to engage with the campaign without destroying the experience with sales messages, while direct and search media ensured that those who were buying were targeted distinctly. We closely monitored the following metrics: Business performance, fame and familiarity, and engagement.

Results Directly measuring against our objectives, we have compelling evidence of success. 1) Business performance: we have driven significant lead growth in all three primary products and substantial reduction in marketing spend. 2) Fame and familiarity: the campaign outperformed spend by gaining attention in the national press, online editorial and blogging environments. 3) Engagement: social media platforms gained momentum, with MORE TH>N Freeman becoming a Twitter trending topic. Over the first quarter of the year, we received over nine times more mentions than Direct Line and over three times as many as Aviva (both launched new campaigns at the same time). The campaign has been viewed over 500,000 times on MORE TH>N’s YouTube channel and we have almost 20,000 active Facebook fans.

Judge's comment:“A great brand strategy that you don’t often see in this sector – it rejects the price comparison sites model and stands for trust instead. And the results prove that it worked. MORE TH>N cut spend by 18% but managed to increase leads by 10%, which is pretty phenomenal.” Caroline Parkes, LIDA

Team Matt Conner – Client Services Director, Karina Jaya-Ratnam – Account Director, Neil Francis – Creative Director, Fred Rodwell – Copywriter, Andrew Parsons – Art Director, Chris Ridd – Planner, Peter Markey – Marketing Director, MORE TH>N, Nicola Carver – Head of Marketing, MORE TH>N, Tim Dixon – Brand Marketing Manager, MORE TH>N, Clara Dennison – Direct Marketing Manager, MORE TH>N

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2011 Gold Financial services

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