Activity

Simply Business sat in an incredibly competitive space, with aggregators pumping capital into ATL and BTL media, especially in search, and direct business insurance competitors that had built-up brand awareness over a long period. Driving cut-through and standout marketing was going to be the key to success.

With a heightened emphasis on reaching both new and already engaged existing audiences, our plan was twofold: to extend beyond the confines of paid search and to amplify brand recognition. We undertook substantial audience insight work to uncover Simply Business’ target audience, supported by TGI, IPA databank and other industry sources to pull together our strongest understanding of the business insurance market. This determined who our target audiences were, how we could reach them and how we needed to communicate them through these channels. We combined this with our knowledge of similar new-to-market advertisers that had delivered the most cost-efficient reach quickly. Our sights were set on delivering strong acquisition numbers and with this in mind, we decided that the most effective route was to venture into the realm of TV. It aligned perfectly with Simply Business’ long-term goals and strategic imperatives of focusing on emotion, being upbeat & playful and having a recognisable brand, all whilst establishing trust, value and simplicity.

In May 2022, we launched the initial phase of Simply Business’ “You Name It, We Insure It” campaign across TV to establish brand awareness and drive cut-through in a competitive marketplace which was crucial for a new-to-air advertiser.  The campaign plan was deliberately broad in terms of sales houses, stations, audiences and dayparts. Balancing optimal reach and frequency the strategy encompassed a multichannel approach, with a modest allocation for terrestrial and peak testing initially. This was followed by a second phase in September and October, which helped sustain adstock levels built up from the first phase.

This required a delicate balance between response-driven and brand-oriented strategies which has been integral to the growth of the brand.  This approach aimed to maximise insights and learning opportunities for optimising future TV campaigns whilst simultaneously delivering acquisition results. It was undeniable in the results that our TV strategy incrementally delivered for the business in terms of volume and value.