Marketing and Advertising Strategies in UK Personal General Insurance 2009

Introduction

Advertising and marketing spending is increasingly important for distributors looking to acquire market share in the highly competitive personal general insurance industry. This brief discusses the trends and issues arising from the advertising of personal general insurance in 2008 and H1 2009, which are likely to have an impact on the market going forward.

Scope

*Analysis of the marketing budgets by media for the top 10 personal general insurance advertisers in 2008 and H1 2009

*Discussion of key issues and trends currently affecting the marketing of personal lines insurance

*Market data on the size of motor and household insurance marketing outlays for the top advertisers in 2008 and H1 2009

Highlights

One of the most significant developments in the general insurance markets in recent years has been the rise of the aggregators in distribution and this can be seen by the inclusion of three aggregators among the top spending insurance advertisers in the first half of 2009.

Home insurance providers increased their budgets significantly on advertising content-only insurance products in 2009, spending £1.4m in the first half of the year as opposed to around £0.2m in the entirety of 2008.

Reasons to Purchase

*Understand key issues and trends in the marketing of personal insurance

*Benchmark your advertising strategy against the top competitors's spend by product line and media


Report Highlights

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Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Executive Summary 2
Aggregators are competing to build brand awareness and increasing their outlays 2
Aggregators are now among the biggest insurance advertisers, reflecting their importance to the general insurance market 2
The widely popular meerkat character has strengthened CompareTheMarket.com's brand in the competitive aggregator market 2
Most top insurance advertisers made use of television advertising for their motor products 2
Television advertising has allowed the largest insurance providers to reach a wide customer base and build brand awareness 2
Motor insurance advertising is dominated by TV but other media is becoming more prevalent 3
Motor advertisers increased their appetite for advertising through the internet 3
The top 10 motor advertisers focused on television advertising, reflecting the need to build up brand awareness 4
Direct mail and TV advertising are the most popular mediums for top 10 household insurance advertisers 4
The total annual advertising expenditure in 2009 is likely to surpass 2008's home insurance marketing budget 4
Direct mail was still the most popular medium for household insurance advertisers 5
Table of Contents 6
Table of figures 7
Table of tables 8
Marketing Strategies 9
Introduction 9
Aggregators are competing to build brand awareness and increasing their outlays 9
Aggregators are now among the biggest insurance advertisers, reflecting their importance to the general insurance market 9
The widely popular meerkat character has strengthened CompareTheMarket.com's brand in the competitive aggregator market 9
Aleksandr Orlov even has a presence on social networking sites 10
Gocompare.com launched its Gio marketing campaign, generating additional traffic for the site 12
Gio Compario shares some similarities with CompareTheMarket.com's meerkat campaign 12
Gio Compario has generated increased traffic to GoCompare.com's website though it has not achieved the same pop culture success 13
Confused.com has responded to the increased advertising competition from rivals 14
Confused.com has stepped up its advertising with outside help 14
A new, more interactive campaign was rolled out in January 2009 14
Direct Line launched a series of campaigns to maintain its spontaneous brand awareness, with its iconic red phone taking center stage 14
The Top 10 Personal General Insurance Advertisers 16
Introduction 16
Direct Line continues as the top general insurance advertiser, though Aviva has stepped up its marketing 16
The market leader, Direct Line, continued to invest in its brand and is likely to equal its 2008 outlays 16
At half year, Aviva had already spent as much as its entire 2008 marketing outlay 16
The aggregators have launched new campaigns in 2009 underscoring the competitive nature of the market 16
Confused.com is the top spending insurance aggregator brand 16
CompareTheMeerkat.com has been a great success for aggregator CompareTheMarket.com 17
GoCompare.com launched a new campaign with fictitious opera singer Gio Compario 17
Most top insurance advertisers made use of television advertising for their motor products 19
Television accounted for the bulk of the top 10's insurance marketing 19
Television advertising has allowed the largest insurance providers to reach a wide customer base and build brand awareness 19
Direct mail was an important secondary advertising medium for most of the top 10 20
Press advertising is a key secondary marketing tool for many insurers 20
Though spending on motor appears to be down, it remained the focus of most advertising campaigns 22
As the largest personal insurance line, motor attracts the highest spending 22
Household insurance as the second largest personal insurance market attracted a substantial amount of advertising 22
Insurance providers are on track to spend more on general combined products advertising in H1 2009 22
Motor Insurance Advertising 24
The top 10 motor advertisers were dominated by direct insurers and aggregators in H1 2009 24
Motor advertisers increased their appetite for advertising through the internet 24
Motor insurance providers spent £91m on advertising in the first six months of 2009 26
Aggregators featured prominently among the top 10 motor insurance advertisers in H1 2009 26
Plans suggest that aggregators will continue to invest in motor insurance advertising 27
The top 10 motor advertisers focused on television advertising, reflecting the need to build up brand awareness 27
The majority of the top 10 motor advertisers spent the bulk of their budgets on TV advertising in H1 2009 27
Direct mail advertising was used by all direct insurers in the top 10 28
Press, outdoor, internet, cinema and radio advertising were used sparingly by the top 10 motor insurance advertisers in H1 2009 28
Motor insurance advertisers ranked 11-20 spent more of their marketing budgets on direct mail 30
Direct mail was the largest element of the motor insurance campaigns for advertisers ranked 11-20 30
Television advertising was also very important to advertisers ranked 11-20 in H1 2009 30
Another bancassurer is on track to potentially join the top 11-20 motor insurance advertisers in 2009 31
Home Insurance Advertising 33
Direct mail and TV advertising are the most popular mediums for top 10 household insurance advertisers 33
The total annual advertising expenditure in 2009 is likely to surpass 2008's home insurance marketing budget 33
Direct mail was still the most popular medium for household insurance advertisers 33
TV advertising expenses in the first half of 2009 already overspend 2008's annual budget 33
Direct mail was favored by the top 10 combined home insurance advertisers in H1 2009 35
The top 10 combined home insurance advertisers consisted of a mixture of direct insurers, insurers, brokers and bancassurers, with Direct Line spending the most 35
Direct mail was favored by the top 10 combined home insurance advertisers in H1 2009 35
TV was an important medium for the top 10 advertisers, but was generally more important for direct insurers 35
A minority of insurance providers used press advertising substantially to target specific groups 37
Direct mail remains the preferred medium for buildings and contents advertisers ranked 11-20 38
Direct mail campaigns accounted for more than 95% of the marketing expenses of four advertisers ranked 11-20 38
Fewer advertisers in the 11-20 group used press and television campaigns to promote their combined building and contents insurance 38
The internet has become the new favorite marketing medium for the top 10 content-only insurance advertisers 40
The marketing spend on content-only insurance increased significantly in the first half of 2009 40
Direct Line was the only advertiser in the top 10 to pursue a television-dominated marketing campaign in H1 2009 40
Seven of the top 10 content-only insurance advertisers spent almost all or all of their marketing budget on the internet 41
All of the top 11-20 contents-only insurance advertisers used only one marketing medium 44
One aggregator website and two retailers were also in the 11-20 bracket 44
All of the advertisers in this group concentrated their entire marketing budget on a sole marketing medium 44
Few providers devoted significant sums to advertising building-only home insurance 46
Few recognizable home insurance brands devoted much of their budgets to advertising building-only home insurance 46
Aviva's marketing expenditure for building-only home insurance products accounted for the majority of the total market's spending 46
APPENDIX 48
Methodology 48
Further reading 48
Ask the analyst 48
Datamonitor consulting 48
Disclaimer 49
List of Tables
Table 1: Top 10 personal general insurance advertisers (£), 2007-H1 2009 19
Table 2: Top 10 personal general insurance advertisers' spend by media (£000s), 2007-H1 2009 21
Table 3: Top 10 personal general insurance advertisers' spend by product (£000s), 2007-H1 2009 23
Table 4: Motor advertising spend, 2007-H1 2009 26
Table 5: Top 10 motor insurance advertisers (£), 2004-H1 2009 27
Table 6: Top 10 motor insurance advertisers' advertising expenditure by medium, H1 2009 30
Table 7: Top 11-20 motor insurance advertisers' expenditure by medium, H1 2009 32
Table 8: Total household advertising spend, 2007-H1 2009 34
Table 9: Top 10 advertiser's spending on combined home insurance products, by media, H1 2009 37
Table 10: Top 11-20 advertisers' spending on combined home insurance products, by media, H1 2009 40
Table 11: Top 10 contents-only insurance advertisers' spend by media, H1 2009 44
Table 12: Top 11-20 contents-only insurance advertisers' spend by media, H1 2009 46
Table 13: Building-only insurance advertisers' spend by media (£), H1 2009 47
List of Figures
Figure 1: Television campaigns were the largest expense for most top insurance advertisers 3
Figure 2: Direct mail and TV form the bulk of motor insurance advertising 4
Figure 3: Home insurance advertisers spend most of their advertising budget on direct mail 5
Figure 4: The meerkat campaign is promoting CompareTheMarket.com's brand 10
Figure 5: CompareTheMarket.com has quickly developed a large following on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter 11
Figure 6: GoCompare.com launched Gio Compario 12
Figure 7: Gio Compario also has presence on social networking sites but is far less popular than Aleksandr Orlov 13
Figure 8: Direct Line launched a series of TV adverts for several insurance products 15
Figure 9: Aviva was the second largest advertiser in the market as it rolled out an extensive rebranding campaign 18
Figure 10: Television campaigns were the largest expense for most top insurance advertisers 21
Figure 11: Motor insurance received the lion's share of insurance advertising funds in the first half of 2009 23
Figure 12: Direct mail and TV form the bulk of motor insurance advertising 25
Figure 13: Television remained the most popular medium choice for the top 10 advertisers in H1 2009 29
Figure 14: Direct mail was the largest element of the motor insurance campaigns for advertisers ranked 11-20, H1 2009 31
Figure 15: Home insurance advertisers spend most of their advertising budget on direct mail 34
Figure 16: Direct mail and TV remained the dominate forms of building and contents combined products' advertising in H1 2009 36
Figure 17: Hiscox was the only home insurance advertiser to have a press-focused media campaign 38
Figure 18: Direct mail and TV are also the most popular 39
Figure 19: Direct Line continues its mass TV advertisement on contents insurance in Q3 2009 41
Figure 20: Barclays is advertising its content insurance on price comparison sites 42
Figure 21: Seven of top 10 content-only insurance advertisers spent almost all or all of their marketing budget on the internet medium 43
Figure 22: All of the top 11-20 contents-only insurance advertisers used a sole marketing medium 45
Figure 23: Aviva offers free contents insurance along with buildings insurance 47

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List of Tables
Table 1: Top 10 personal general insurance advertisers (£), 2007-H1 2009 19
Table 2: Top 10 personal general insurance advertisers' spend by media (£000s), 2007-H1 2009 21
Table 3: Top 10 personal general insurance advertisers' spend by product (£000s), 2007-H1 2009 23
Table 4: Motor advertising spend, 2007-H1 2009 26
Table 5: Top 10 motor insurance advertisers (£), 2004-H1 2009 27
Table 6: Top 10 motor insurance advertisers' advertising expenditure by medium, H1 2009 30
Table 7: Top 11-20 motor insurance advertisers' expenditure by medium, H1 2009 32
Table 8: Total household advertising spend, 2007-H1 2009 34
Table 9: Top 10 advertiser's spending on combined home insurance products, by media, H1 2009 37
Table 10: Top 11-20 advertisers' spending on combined home insurance products, by media, H1 2009 40
Table 11: Top 10 contents-only insurance advertisers' spend by media, H1 2009 44
Table 12: Top 11-20 contents-only insurance advertisers' spend by media, H1 2009 46
Table 13: Building-only insurance advertisers' spend by media (£), H1 2009 47

List of Figures
Figure 1: Television campaigns were the largest expense for most top insurance advertisers 3
Figure 2: Direct mail and TV form the bulk of motor insurance advertising 4
Figure 3: Home insurance advertisers spend most of their advertising budget on direct mail 5
Figure 4: The meerkat campaign is promoting CompareTheMarket.com's brand 10
Figure 5: CompareTheMarket.com has quickly developed a large following on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter 11
Figure 6: GoCompare.com launched Gio Compario 12
Figure 7: Gio Compario also has presence on social networking sites but is far less popular than Aleksandr Orlov 13
Figure 8: Direct Line launched a series of TV adverts for several insurance products 15
Figure 9: Aviva was the second largest advertiser in the market as it rolled out an extensive rebranding campaign 18
Figure 10: Television campaigns were the largest expense for most top insurance advertisers 21
Figure 11: Motor insurance received the lion's share of insurance advertising funds in the first half of 2009 23
Figure 12: Direct mail and TV form the bulk of motor insurance advertising 25
Figure 13: Television remained the most popular medium choice for the top 10 advertisers in H1 2009 29
Figure 14: Direct mail was the largest element of the motor insurance campaigns for advertisers ranked 11-20, H1 2009 31
Figure 15: Home insurance advertisers spend most of their advertising budget on direct mail 34
Figure 16: Direct mail and TV remained the dominate forms of building and contents combined products' advertising in H1 2009 36
Figure 17: Hiscox was the only home insurance advertiser to have a press-focused media campaign 38
Figure 18: Direct mail and TV are also the most popular 39
Figure 19: Direct Line continues its mass TV advertisement on contents insurance in Q3 2009 41
Figure 20: Barclays is advertising its content insurance on price comparison sites 42
Figure 21: Seven of top 10 content-only insurance advertisers spent almost all or all of their marketing budget on the internet medium 43
Figure 22: All of the top 11-20 contents-only insurance advertisers used a sole marketing medium 45
Figure 23: Aviva offers free contents insurance along with buildings insurance 47
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