2017 highly commended: Churchill - case study

This is the story of how a household insurer transformed itself into a social crusader, forming a campaign that aimed to improve road safety by bringing the once-ubiquitous lollipop lady back to our communities.

While the number of ‘lollipoppers’ on the street has been steadily diminishing, our research found that 65% of child pedestrian casualties occur during the school run. Embarking upon a multi-channel campaign that would be the first of its kind for the business, we promised to provide financial support for up to 50 new lollipoppers for a year from September-2016. A central website-based hub was created to collect nominations – from which 50 schools would be chosen at random.

To maximise coverage and encourage our audience to actively engage by making a nomination, we formed strategic partnerships with influencers including Channel 4, Bauer Radio and Mumsnet. Churchill’s integrated campaign also used different phases on social media to launch, recruit and celebrate lollipoppers across the country – this included creating the first ‘National Lollipopper Day’ on 29th November.

By bringing about a positive change from both a moral and business perspective, Churchill ultimately aimed to lead key brand metrics including ‘acts in the interest of others’ and ‘consideration’. We also aimed to sustain our position as insurers within a competitive, challenging marketplace, overcoming such uncontrollable issues as increased Insurance Premium Tax, which was driving customers to shop around for the best insurance deal at renewal.

The results exceeded all expectations. As well as achieving growth in all of our key brand metrics, we grew our IFPs (total policies) by c.2,000 per week (from a decline of c.3,000 per week), increased phone quotes by 24% and saw a rise in sales versus forecasts.

Ultimately we’ve managed to raise awareness of an important societal issue, without compromising the business’ cheeky, informal tone.