Industry News - October, 2009

A focus on effective insurance marketing practices and the importance of new business has been one of the most positive outcomes of the recession, said Oval group Chief Executive Phillip Hodson.
 
Speaking to insurance weekly trade magazine Post Magazine, Mr Hodson stressed the significant contribution that a good marketing plan, a thorough database, innovative products and fres... more...

Browne Jacobson has been selected as one of only 16 law firms nationally to advise the London Boroughs Legal Alliance (LBLA) - a new coalition of London councils that have come together to achieve greater efficiency in the procurement of legal services.
 
The Midlands firm will provide legal services to all six councils that makeup the LBLA – Camden and Harrow; Hammersmith and Fulham; Hillingdon and Hounslow London Borough Councils; and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.<... more...

Those marketing financial services still have their work cut out after a survey revealed that trust in the industry is still at rock-bottom.
 
According to the survey, which was carried out by the Direct Marketing Association, almost three-quarters of consumers (71%) say they do not trust the industry following the fall-out from last year’s financial crisis.
  more...

The latest financial services marketing initiative from global accountancy firm BDO is to unify the brand across all 110 countries worldwide where the firm is represented, strengthening its brand, visual identity, messaging and positioning in the process.
 
The world’s fifth largest accountancy network, has announced that all its member firms are to adopt the single... more...

Spanish banking group Santander is stepping up its UK online insurance marketing and offering with the launching of its first Santander branded home insurance website.

Called Santander Home Insurance, it is one of the group’s first insurance products to bear the Santander name in the UK ahead of the total rebranding of its Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley ... more...

A brave new financial services marketing initiative has been launched by First Direct to aggregate live comments from social networks about its brand.
 
The microsite – Firstdirect.com/live – collates both good and bad consumer comments about the First Direct brand from eight million social media sites.
 
First Direct claims it is the first bank to make s... more...

Aviva has launched an insurance marketing campaign focused on encouraging businesses to seek advice from insurance brokers.
 
The TV campaign is the latest in a series of humorous ads featuring comedian Paul Whitehouse as the owner of a hairdressing salon. 
 
Brian Spinks, head of sales and marketing at Aviva, comments: “The ad has been designed to encourage more ... more...

In its latest business marketing strategy, RBS-owned insurance brand Churchill, has announced that its bulldog mascot, Churchill, will appear in a series of pantomimes this winter.  

The brand has teamed up with the UK’s biggest pantomime producer, Qdos Entertainment, to create one-off scripts of Christmas classics featuring the British bulldog.

Using only his trademark p... more...