Pete Markey, marketing director, More Than
Marketing: Have your marketing needs changed since the start of the recession?
Markey: Our needs have had to change, because recession has caused consumer attitudes to move. We launched a campaign at the start of 2009 to be a bit more hard-edged, because we recognise that consumers had become more deal hungry. We’ve seen fantastic sales growth - pet insurance has done particularly well – as people buy insurance to protect themselves.
Marketing: Has More Than’s media mix changed since 2008?
Markey: That time frame coincided with our move to Starcom Mediavest. Our confidence about testing and learning has gone up because we’ve been successful. We’re doing a lot more sponsorship, including a fantastic partnership with Global Radio sponsoring Heart's mid-morning show presented by Toby Anstis, a deal brokered by Starcom.
Marketing: What about TV, now that prices have come down?
Markey: We’ve used about the same, but bringing more motor insurance DRTV ads into the round. I was worried about where DRTV was going in the world of multichannel, and how to ensure you have great DRTV but not to weaken it with a poor media schedule.
We’re sponsoring a home makeover programme on the UK Home and UK Gold channels. That’s new and we’ve also sponsored a show called Pet Nation on Sky 1 – we haven’t done that kind of sponsorships for eight years. The rates are cheaper and there are great deals out there.
Marketing: What other channels have come to the fore for More Than?
Markey: We’ve done a lot more test and learn with social media, but we were doing that anyway despite the recession. I was personally an early adopter of Facebook but was sceptical about using it for advertising. However we’ve proved that you can do targeted messaging there, especially to do with home insurance.
Marketing: Why did you single out Facebook in particular?
Markey: We’re doing a lot more banner ads and PPC, where traditionally the measure of success is the number of clicks. But the advantage of Facebook is you can rate the ads and it means a lot less wastage in that you’re connecting with the right audience. I don’t think it would be right to set up a ‘do you love More Than’ page but in a recession Facebook is great for allowing you to go with the mood of consumers, so we’ll change the creative and the offer. It’s a lot of more responsive than banner ads, in that it connects you with the heart of the consumer much more powerfully.
Marketing: Are you putting more emphasis on direct response marketing rather than brand building?
Markey: You need a balance. There's a real danger you end up cheapening your brand for short-term gain. You chase the numbers you have to get, but you need to protect your long-term brand that makes you different. A lot of competitors are doing very tactically-based offers, which as long as your proposition is just, we’re cheap, then great. We’ve trodden that tightrope well – putting out propositions that were about value.
Marketing: Will these changes to your marketing mix last as the global economy recovers?
Markey: I think so. The brand is about offering value to consumers. I keep reading surveys about trust in financial services, so there’s a big brand job to do. As we test and learn with Facebook, together with the Heart FM sponsorship - these are the things we'll continue because they strengthen our brand. The overall sales numbers, and retention rates, have been very good.
While feelings about the brand have been great, we’ll need to keep that audience engagement. We ran a competition on Heart FM – a competition to get your pet in our next adverts – and it nearly crashed the website with the highest number of entries Heart ever had for a non-music competition. We’re seeing consumers want to get involved in the brand in a real human way. That’s the kind of stuff we want to do more of.
Marketing: You’ve called an advertising review. What’s behind that?
Markey: We’re looking for an integrated idea and we’ve got a 10th birthday next year and need to make the most of it. We’re in an environment where, if you can save money, fantastic but it’s not the primary goal. The 10th anniversary next year forces us to step back and reflect where we go next. We pitched the media last year and that went well, and the next logical thing is to pitch creative.
We’re in such a fast moving dynamic market – to ignore the rise of price comparison sites and how they’ve changed the shape of the market would be foolish. The key for me is how we communicate the values what we stand for - that’s the critical bit.