Best Insurance Online Campaign

Churchill Insurance is one of the leading insurance companies in the UK. Over the past 4 years the industry had seen rapid growth in people buying insurance online, with an 18% increase for motor insurance alone. Churchill understood the importance of a strong online presence to future business growth and wanted to build on the highly recognisable brand that had already been created using television and radio ads. To translate the brand accurately and effectively online, Churchill required an agency that could demonstrate a real understanding of the brand and the business. The brief was to take the new ‘Challenge Churchill’ campaign with its core messaging and bring it to life online. The primary objective was to increase brand awareness with Churchill’s wide ranging target audience.

Rufus Leonard’s response was to take the distinctive brand assets for Churchill and interpret them online. This was achieved by the Rufus Leonard rich media team using the creative visual of Churchill the dog in a web cam. The interpretation of the ‘Challenge Churchill’ tag line was an ‘Instant Challenge’ that was answered by the dog as part of the Flash animated advertising. The humour and personality of Churchill was communicated with short, clear and consistent messaging which truly brought the brand to life. Over 20 different variations of the adverts were created, including page peels, skyscrapers and banners.
The campaign immediately grabs the attention of the user, while additionally building brand retention. The messaging itself was refined to work specifically in the online environment. The Flash animation ends with a call to action that drives users through to the Churchill website and specifically to a quote tool, essentially providing the final stage to the challenge answered by Churchill. Working with Churchill’s media buying agency, the ads were placed on targeted web pages including MSN and Yahoo.

The Churchill brand was effectively transferred to an online environment with superb results. The campaign ran from July to September 2007. The user study which followed found that brand awareness had improved. In addition online ad awareness, message association and renewal intent were all found to have significant increases, especially amongst light internet users.

Contributors:

RUFUS LEONARD

Location: UK