Launching Sheilas' Wheels
Sheilas' Wheels offering was unique to the market and Carat's insight to challenge typical car insurance behaviour was in-line with our vision. All the research is telling us that our communications are having a positive impact on our brand, which is mirrored by policy sales
Chris Bowden, Head of Marketing, esure
We realised that if car insurance was dull, Sheilas' Wheels had to be both different and fun. It wouldn't excite women by hanging around the traditional haunts: dingy classified columns, cheesy DRTV slots and grimy bus backs. Our idea was for Sheilas' Wheels to be "one of the girls" - pink and sassy. It should act like a female fashion brand. It would only be seen in glamorous locations, places that wouldn't dream of letting an insurance brand through their door. This radical strategy was risky. Being "one of the girls" entailed a departure from car insurance media comfort zones which a cowardly client would have shied away from. But our client agreed that converting UK women from passive, bored-by-insurance dependents into empowered decision-makers required a revolutionary approach.
Radically eschewing category norms in its quest to be "one of the girls", we believed the key for the brand was to embed Sheilas' Wheels exciting message within a varied mix of light, engaging female content. The category spends 80% of its budgets on TV. Instead, we spent just 48% - 15% of which was boldly invested into sponsoring LivingTV's drama strand and later on, ITV's Loose Women. This sponsorship gave ladies the chance to win a handbag of their choice worth £300 (reflecting the level of cover included in the policy for such items) and credits enabled consumers to download the catchy Sheilas' Wheels theme as a ringtone.
As radio is the companion to 44% of women while driving, we invested 10x the category norm here. Similarly, though women's glossies are a total no-no for insurance response campaigns, Carat research showed them as a girl's closest friend. Here, we had room to both explain the concept and do some crucial work changing attitudes. Cinema ads in films like In Her Shoes hit girls at the movies together. Outdoor targeted women while shopping, using clusters of 6-sheet clusters around favourite fashion outlets. In-salon ads via VisionTV entertained ladies having their hair done. Finally, partnerships were also developed with Handbag.com and asos.com.