Voted by The Judging Panel Sponsored by Aascent Finance Company.
Swinton Insurance Group
There were many facets to this highly commended marketing campaign, but essentially it was a fusion of good design, product, process, price, delivery and promotion.
Swinton's campaign to increase its household book in the second-half of 2003 and 2004 involved ingenuity, a deep understanding of its customers and interaction with staff, and well-executed projects that supported the stars of the campaign - the branch advisers.
By the end of 2004 Swinton achieved a remarkable 70,000 extra home policies in the space of 18 months.
This has contributed significantly to Swinton's improved profit performance and also concreted its relationship with new and existing customers. Good marketing is not the preserve of just the marketing department, it involves every aspect of the company from product design, insurer development, systems, operational procedures through to training - it turned an excellent "paper" concept into a reality.
Swinton's operations director, Jackie Ordish said: "Being highly recommended is of immense value as it underlines the value of marketing being everyone's responsibility."
Alexander Forbes Professions - ACCA
The marketing team at Alexander Forbes are delighted to have been highly commended for this award.
In 2003/2004, Alexander Forbes implemented a marketing campaign for the ACCA Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme. The aims and objectives included increasing market share as well as providing clients with a higher quality service and customer care. To meet these aims and objectives, Alexander Forbes carried out extensive market research to identify clients' needs.
Following this research a marketing campaign was implemented. This included raising awareness to ACCA members of professional indemnity insurance and risk management issues, enhancing services as well as identifying new products and services. These new services included an in-house binding authority, online proposal form and the creation of a CRM database.
Alexander Forbes Professions - Seminars
Alexander Forbes Professions annually hold seminars and workshops targeting UK law firms. Its seminar programmes are tailored for each client, by size, specialism and geographical location.
At this year's events, each speaker gave advice on solicitors' professional indemnity and risk management within their specialist field. The attendance figures were outstanding.
The aims of the programme included - maintaining our profile as one of the largest professional indemnity brokers in the UK; assisting with client retention and supporting the sales team.
The seminars are an ideal forum to inform our clients about professional indemnity insurance and risk management issues and enable them to receive free CPD points.
InsureandGo
Since its launch in 2000, the aim of InsureandGo's marketing campaign has been to drive sales by raising awareness of the company's great value, low-cost cover. Its biggest target to steal market share from was travel agents.
For 2003/04, a concept was developed which focussed on the comparison between InsureandGo's prices and travel agents' overpriced cover after research showed that InsureandGo was 66% cheaper.
The 'Rip Off' campaign was created, using an issue-led PR programme and a complimentary advertising campaign.
A travel agent mystery shopper survey was carried out and the results used to launch the PR programme. Not only did the 'Rip Off' campaign receive high levels of national coverage, the company gained exposure on all travel insurance issues. Tube and bus card adverts enabled the campaign message to be effectively communicated in London. Targets for the year were smashed and the market share held by travel agents fell.
