DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Executive Summary
Searching for insurance is a bore. You don’t care who the provider is – they’re all the
same, aren’t they? You just want the cheapest, speediest solution.
This is the mindset that, back in 2014, caused Direct Line to slump from market
champion to just another insurer. The onset of price comparison websites was driving a
tide of commoditisation, and customer numbers had been declining for five years
straight.
The company needed radical intervention. It set objectives to:
• Differentiate the brand.
• Rebuild consumer trust.
• Stem and reverse the commercial decline.
Direct Line’s bold strategy was to disrupt the market’s preoccupation with price head on,
by directly addressing consumers’ fundamental insurance need (putting things right
quickly and easily when they’ve gone wrong).
After 18 months of R&D, Direct Line repositioned itself as the ‘fixers’ of the industry. It
launched a series of unique service propositions that offered high performance, hassle-
free insurance with no additional costs or catches. The propositions were launched with
a large-scale integrated campaign that targeted consumers at multiple touchpoints. The
campaign drew on cutting-edge digital channels, but the root of the execution was
highly successful TV advertising featuring Pulp Fiction’s Winston ‘The Fixer’ Wolf
(generating a 53% improvement on quotes for every £1 invested).
Having delivered a step-change in performance and using “Can your insurance do that?”
straplines, Direct Line differentiated itself and is now number one in the market across
all key brand metrics: awareness, consideration, connection and preference. In the 80s,
Direct Line revolutionised insurance with its ‘come direct’ proposition. Today, the brand
has achieved no less than a revolution with this campaign: The last three years have
seen Direct Line transform both as a business and a brand, with its declining position
turned into a position of significant growth and increased market share.
300 Words
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
MAIN ENTRY
A brand in dire straits
In 1985, Direct Line re-wrote the insurance rulebook with its revolutionary ‘come-direct’
proposition, famed for cutting out the middle-man. Our brand and iconic ‘little red
phone on wheels’ ruled the market, and by 1997 we were insuring one in ten private
cars on the road
1
However, by 2013, Direct Line was in dire straits. Our world had been unexpectedly
turned upside down by the onslaught of price comparison websites (PCWs), which
undermined our direct revolution. Suddenly customers were only interested in price and
cover when choosing insurance, rather than performance and quality. The sector was
becoming increasingly commoditised, and Direct Line was out-of-date and irrelevant.
Market share, customer numbers, quotes and policies took a five-year nosedive.
Put simply, PCWs had shattered our business model. We’d gone from the consumer
champion to an undifferentiated brand in a deeply-distrusted industry. Without a major
change, our future was bleak.
In 2005 Direct Line had more search volume than the top five PCWs combined. By 2007,
In 2005 Direct Line had more search volume than the top five PCWs combined. By 2007, In 2005 Direct Line had more search volume than the top five PCWs combined. By 2007,
In 2005 Direct Line had more search volume than the top five PCWs combined. By 2007,
Moneysupermarket alone had more search volume than Direct Line.
Moneysupermarket alone had more search volume than Direct Line.Moneysupermarket alone had more search volume than Direct Line.
Moneysupermarket alone had more search volume than Direct Line.
1 Source: Based on a comparison of internal data and Office of National Statistic Vehicle Registration
by Keepership for 1997 (VEH0202).
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Objectives
Though the scale of the challenge was immense, in 2014 we embarked on an ambitious
three-year journey to reboot the brand. We would create a new, coherent identity
capable of driving new proposition development, high performance creative execution
and operational improvements.
Our objectives were:
1. Differentiate the brand from the competitor set: Increase awareness and
consideration.
2. Rebuild trust with the consumer: Increase connection and preference.
3. Drive commercial growth: Stem and reverse the company’s revenue decline.
The research for a new direction
To achieve a paradigm-change in consumer experience, we had to have substance – and
that meant investing significantly in insight. Direct Line has always had a strong
commitment to evidence-based decision-making, and we used both qualitative and
quantitative methods to:
1) Establish a new brand position
Focus group research identified that, above all, consumers want hassle-free insurance
that just works. A subsequent market-mapping exercise ensured this positioning would
appeal to a wide audience. We found it had appeal across all key demographic groups
and, crucially, no other brand owned this space.
2) Understand our target audience
Market segmentation modelling indicated that with this brand positioning we’d reach
approximately 3-4m individuals aged 25-54 years old. As a mass-market insurer, this was
ideal.
3) Put our insights on trial
Research suggested that seven out of ten complaints related to timescales of settling a
claim or failure to keep customers informed, so we launched a new proposition to trial
our ‘hassle-free’ brand position: “Your car fixed in seven days or we pay you £10 a day
until the job is done.” We liked what the proposition said about the quality of our
insurance, and internally we realised a shift too – seeing the number of repairs
completed within seven days double.
Thanks to these insights, for the first time in a long time, our identity was clear. We’re
Fixers. We put things right when they go wrong, taking the hassle out of insurance.
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
The Direct Line strategy: We solve problems
Fixer strategy
We would reposition Direct Line as ‘high performance insurance’ that fixes problems
and gets lives back on track. This meant moving the conversation away from price and
cover at the point of purchase, and towards performance at the point of need.
Our strategy was to introduce a series of unique home and motor propositions that
show our service is as hassle-free as possible. Each proposition would make a unique
‘fixing’ promise we would deliver.
Campaign
We would spread our message using:
• ‘Always-on’ activity – building up a base of fixing content.
• Attention-grabbing, disruptive ‘fame-building’ bursts to launch each proposition.
Needing more than simply a clever ad, we launched a large-scale multi-channel
campaign. Every new proposition would start with a persuasive Winston Wolf TV
execution carrying the strapline “Can your insurance do that?” This would drive
connection to our brand all year round (not just around insurance-renewal dates) and
consistently reaffirm our USP.
Creative
We identified Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction as the perfect embodiment of our new
fixer identity. He was a superb parallel for the way great insurance works – a call away,
knows what to do, puts it right without fuss and gets out of your life. With the phrase
“I’m Winston Wolf, I fix problems”, our fixer message could feature across every
touchpoint.
We took the fixer creative to 800 respondents for pre-testing, and the results were
overwhelmingly positive:
• Brand linkage 20% higher than the average of all ads tracked to date.
• Top 5% most salient campaigns ever evaluated.
• Top 4% most involving campaigns ever evaluated.
• Top 2% performing campaigns in increasing brand consideration.
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
This reboot wasn’t simply new creative, it was a new identity. Consumers needed to
know that we weren’t merely paying lip service to fixing. That’s why our service
proposition team and marketing team are one and the same. They overhauled our
insurance products – each one provided a fixing brand promise unrivalled in the
marketplace. Starting in 2014, these were launched systematically and underpinned all
our marketing activities.
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Some examples of our TV creative, which formed the core of our creative strategy.
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Secondary channels (both above-the-line and below-the-line) were used to amplify and
add weight to the TV creative. Below is a snapshot of just some of our activities:
National radio:
Radio campaigns were acutely relevant, communicating our motor propositions during
commuter times and around ‘traffic and travel updates’ to capture in-car listeners. We
also partnered with key stations, e.g. presenting ‘The Big Music Fix’ with Global Radio, in
which we solved listeners’ music-related prob-lems, such as replacing a listener’s lost
vinyl collection. Without a topic as dull as insurance, this tactic enabled us to engage a
target audience that are normally difficult to reach outside of their renewal pe-riod.
Geo-synchronised OOH, mobile and radio:
When commuters passed our billboards, innovative geo-fencing technology would
broad-cast an associated message on their radios, and they would also receive a mobile
message. This amplified our message that ‘Di-rect Line provides customers with a taxi to
anywhere in the UK after an accident’ during con-textually-relevant commuter
environments.
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Direct Mail:
To creatively reflect Winston’s message
below-the-line, we de-signed an eye-
catching comic-strip team of Fixers who
would ‘work’ on behalf of Winston. Indi-
vidually, they represent various
insurance lines; together, they work as a
team to ensure prob-lems are sorted
quickly and effi-ciently by delivering on
our service promises.
Social
Activities included YouTube ‘How to’ fixing videos and ‘Listen and respond’ Twitter
campaigns (#everydayfix, #directfix and #merryfixmans); these involve us responding to
people’s tweeted dilemmas with real/virtual ‘fixes’ (resulting in Direct Line being the
first insurance brand to trend on Twitter). While not directly linked to insurance, these
activi-ties enabled our brand to be ‘al-ways on’ – continually reinforcing its fixer
credentials outside of the TV campaign periods.
To engage 17-25 younger drivers, vlogging star Alfie Deyes demonstrated our DrivePlus
product, filmed in a series of driving challenges.
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Digital:
Highlights include blog content (we created a
unique ‘Fixology’ hub within The Guardian’s
website, which featured videos of celebrity
experts fixing common problems) and high-
impact YouTube/FB Block reach/ MSN
placements, which were followed by innovative
time-sensitive dy-namic banner ads to target
key segments based on online behaviour.
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Effective use of marketing resources
Investing in the team
This wasn’t a superficial communications campaign – the crucial building blocks were
actually internal. Our initial investments went into growing the marketing team
capabilities, challenging existing mindsets and engendering the necessary behaviour to
achieve the momentum and muscle required to tackle the significant change ahead.
Internally, the strategy was supported by two mantras: “What would Wolf do?” and
“We’re on it”.
Efficient spend
Our marketing budget has been reduced considerably as part of the company’s focus on
cost since Direct Line Group’s IPO in 2012. Annual spend has fallen by 38% between
2014 and 2017. We had to do more with less, so took time to ensure we invested in the
right channels:
A long-term testing programme demonstrated that leaflets were only recovering about
55% of their costs, so we reduced spend by 97%.
Online tracking painted a misleadingly positive picture of conventional banner
advertising, so we reduced annual investment by 50%.
Matchback analysis of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) media found there
are significant differences in efficiency, and we’ve been able to reduce annual direct
marketing budget by 51%.
Econometric modelling showed diminishing returns of DRTV, so we reduced spend by
60%.
ROI within 12 months
The Fixer brand TV delivered significantly greater impact per 100 TVRs than the creative
used in the 12 months before the campaign.
These improved TV uplifts translated into a 40% fall in cost per sale for car insurance TV
advertising and a 10% fall for home.
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Resurgence in customer perception
The rebrand has clearly helped to improve customer satisfaction, with our Net Promoter
Score increasing by 30% since 2014. This is helping us deliver our overarching objectives:
Objective 1) Differentiate the brand
In 2014 we were simply another insurer in the pack. However, after the reboot we
successfully differentiated ourselves. Our campaign not only stemmed the decline in
consideration and awareness, but increased them too:
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Objective 2) Rebuild consumer trust
Stemming the decline in awareness and consideration was never the only concern for
us. We were also worried about what people thought of us.
Before the reboot, preference scores for Direct Line and its competitors all ranged
between 10% and 12%. Today, connection has increased 6pts and Direct Line is the most
preferred brand in both Home and Motor insurance:
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
A turnaround in fortune
Objective 3) Commercial growth
From campaign launch to December-2017:
• Market share: We’ve gained new business market share without any significant
price change in our premiums. Between Aug-14 and Dec-17, our home share
rose from 16% to 17% and our new business sales for motor rose from 19% to
30%.
• Quote volume: The rate of decline improved immediately for both motor and
home. Within six months we moved into positive growth, despite an overall
declining market, reaching a record high in April ‘16:
DIRECT LINE - THE MARKETING SOCIETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
• Revenue (‘Gross Written Premiums’): By January 2015 we had halted five
consecutive years of decline and reversed the business’s overall revenue, a full
year ahead of target. In 2017, our combined home and motor YTD GWP has
increased 45 percentage points vs pre-fixer (2013) :
Despite the enormity of bringing our brand back from the brink, our brave, insight-led
strategy has seen us carve out another insurance revolution. Our reboot wasn’t simply
about finding new creative, it was about forming a whole new identity – and we found
one that is entirely unique, giving consumers a reason to come direct once again.
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