2018 commended, Direct Line, customer insight - case study

ENTIRE ENTRY CONFIDENTIAL

As one of Britain’s largest car insurers, Direct Line believes it has a responsibility not just to its customers, but to wider society. So when it uncovered the shocking finding that 17-19-year olds are involved in 9% of all fatal and serious crashes, despite representing just 1.5% of all drivers – it knew it had to act.
The brand set the extraordinarily ambitious objective to cut deaths amongst young drivers in the first 1,000 miles to zero.

But to succeed, it knew it must develop bold new ways to engage this audience with this challenging message. What followed was an extensive two-year research programme to discover how to cut-through to 17-25-year olds and truly affect change. Direct Line worked with seven partners, including a transport psychologist, design agency and youth communications specialist to uncover unique insights.

The information gathered resulted in the creation of an integrated campaign that used an innovative new app (free to all), a rewards programme and communications campaign to drive engagement amongst 17-25-year olds. Thanks to this research, the campaign has proven a great success:

• Statistical modelling suggests that the app could have already prevented two to four
• serious or fatal road traffic accidents.
• 35% of app users saw an improvement in their overall driving score.
• 26% of users improved their score for contextual speed.
• 91% of users surveyed said Shotgun incentivised them to drive carefully.
• 70% felt the app helped them become a better driver.
• App users are more likely to take a policy with Direct Line, having completed their 1,000 miles.

The app has received praise from road safety charity Brake, which claims it “should help even more new drivers become safer behind the wheel”. It has been downloaded 23,324 times, with 11,620 users having safely completed their first 1,000 miles on the road.

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(Please note: parts of this case study may have been redacted for confidentiality purposes.)