TOM DODD – INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP

Tom Dodd works as Media Lead at Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG). IAG is the largest general insurance company in Australia, selling different insurance products. After building years of experience in media strategy at various media agencies, Thomas joined IAG in 2018 and now manages the media business across the company’s brand portfolio.

WHEN DISASTER STRIKES

“Our main challenge? People are apathetic at best about insurance,” says Thomas. “When customers are out buying for insurance, in the current climate, they are often looking for the cheapest insurance company. But the moment of truth is when disaster strikes. That’s when we’re there for them. And that’s what we use in our storytelling to demonstrate the value we offer our customers that goes beyond price”.

When people are at their worst, we are at our best. When someone calls us after an accident or a fire, that’s when customer experience is actually at its strongest. And it’s not just on the phone, but also on the ground, for example in the 2019-2020 Australia bushfires. When things hit the fan, we were there. That’s a non-marketing event, but it’s so important.

When people see our communications around how we help and make the world a safer place, things connect. The way we are on the ground, and the way we demonstrate help through action becomes an empowering moment of truth. You can do all the marketing you want, but if you’re not out there in the real world helping your customer when they need you, you will lose them. People don’t get excited about insurance until something happens. And once it does, they’re willing to pay the difference because you helped them, and you helped their neighbour.”

“When people are at their worst, we are at our best. That’s a non-marketing event, but it’s so important.”

DATA-LED AUDIENCE TARGETING

“Of course, we see peaks and troughs in insurance purchasing,” Thomas explains. “June and July are a big sales period for us at IAG. In the lead-up to those months, we need to prime potential customers, and for that, we use really strong emotive brand communications. So in April and May, we go heavy with the brand message, to build up emotional relevance. And then in June and July, we focus on the rationale, to activate and drive demand. It’s a cycle that goes on throughout the year: we alternate our focus between brand communications and performance communications.”

What channels does IAG use for its marketing and comms? Thomas: “When we look at the funnel, we look at the channels that reflect the type of job that needs to be done. At the top level, AV channels are the most important to us. We’re big storytellers, so video, tv, and broadcast are powerful ways of connecting with our audiences. To build emotional connections we mostly run 30 or 60-second ads. Those are not about frequency but high impact, by creating highly emotive moments. Then there are also shorter ads that we run frequently for consideration and retail messaging. And of course, there’s social media which is quick and snappy, street furniture advertising which has a low dwell time but high impact, et cetera. We’re using data-led audience targeting to make the right connections to deliver the right message at the right time.”

“We’re big storytellers, so video, tv, and broadcast are a powerful way
of connecting with our audiences.”

STEADILY INVEST IN GROWTH

How do you maintain your position, or how do you even grow a brand that is already the largest in the country? Thomas: “A while ago we noticed that our competitors had increased their marketing spend and that they were offering cheaper insurance option. Their market share was growing. To reassert ourselves, we needed to steadily invest in growth. We had to find out where in the funnel we were being hurt, so we could focus our investment accordingly.

Australia is a massive market, with lots of regional differences between the various states and territories. For example, in one state we were doing well on awareness, but we were behind on the ‘why’. So that’s where we beefed up our media investment, communications, et cetera. However, in another state, we didn’t have a great presence yet, so that’s where our focus is now on driving more brand awareness and getting and staying top of mind.”

According to Thomas, an interesting trend in Australia right now is migration. “Now that people are working from home a lot more as a result of the pandemic, they are migrating into the suburbs. This creates targeting opportunities for us outside of the metro cities. It allows us to look at new growth areas and employ regional marketing. That’s why we are now spending more in those areas, using data to see where customer opportunities are arising.”

“We had to find out where in the funnel we were being hurt,
so we could focus our investment accordingly.”

WITHOUT A STRATEGY IT ALL FALLS DOWN

“Of course, we do a lot of research and testing before we put anything out,” Thomas continues. “On the one hand, we don’t want audience testing to dilute the work so much that by the time you get to execution it doesn’t stand out anymore. But on the other hand, it’s good to know which moments in an ad connect with audiences, so we can re-enforce that. What we’re good at is looking at the work once it’s live, to see how it performs. If we’re not achieving the results we were aiming for, we quickly edit. That way we stay on top of our performance.”

Instead of working with one creative agency for everything, IAG prefers to work with various independent creative agencies. Thomas explains why. “We had a careful look at the various types of work we want to create. Some agencies are good at brand work but not at retail work, or the other way around, so we decided to split things up. Working with multiple agencies has improved the quality, output, and effectiveness of our efforts throughout the funnel.

Of course, the problem with this model is you tend to get disparate thinking. That’s why we’ve employed strategic brand planners in-house, who are the anchor points to link everything together. Together they form the comms and marketing strategy. It’s the backbone for everything we do: without a strategy, it all falls down. This in-house/out-house model, in which we combine the efforts of in-house strategists with agency execution, has created a solid foundation for the work we do. We’ve been able to put together a great team.

“In-house strategic brand planners are the anchor points to link everything together.”