Best use of owned-media

Insurer pays claim is not a headline often seen in the media. Ageas UK, an insurance company that can trace its roots back to 1824, pays out 99 per cent of claims and enjoys high customer satisfaction scores. But with few newspaper outlets keen to print such positive stories, Ageas decided to change its communications approach and become a corporate publisher, taking back control of its messages to customers.

Such a change was particularly important in 2018, as Ageas changed the way it sold insurance products. Having previously sold them only through intermediaries and partners, Ageas was now going to bring the brand directly to consumers.

Working with Cardiff-based agency BrandContent, Ageas recognised that despite being the UK’s third largest car insurer and sixth biggest home insurer, its name recognition among consumer was poor.

Having recognised that trust among insurance companies was low, Ageas sought to rebuild its profile by solving insurance related problems but to concentrate on the two consumer segments most likely to buy direct. These shared one common characteristic: they both had children living at home.

The launch of Solved, an always on, real-time, brand newsroom, provided an opportunity to offer insightful advice, engaging content and big quarterly campaigns to drive traffic and awareness. The site would feature at least three new items every week, centred around guides which answered specific insurance questions and data-led or topical content. For example, the heat wave provided an opportunity to produce content that explained the issue of home subsidence.

The BrandContent team also listened to hours of customer calls to understand the issues that impact them, and now spend one day per month in the business rooting out topics or themes for the site.

In the first three months of Solved, there was a campaign to highlight the bad habits parents might pass onto their children as they taught them to drive. This was prompted by the realisation that the spiralling cost of driving lessons was causing many parents to put their children onto their car insurance.

Driving with an unrestrained dog can lead to fines and points on a driving licence, Buckle up pup was a step-by-step video guide, produced in association with the RSPCA, to securing a family pet before taking a drive.

Within three months, Solved had brought more than 46,000 potential new customers to Ageas’ website and driven more than 65,000 views of content. More than two per cent of all visits resulted in clicks to Get a quote. And analysis by Polecat revealed improved brand reputation correlated to publication of content.

‘Tangible results from a clear approach to tackling the challenge of gaining new customers in a highly aggressive, competitive marketplace,’ said the judges. ‘It is having an impact on the business.’