Financial Services ForumInvasion of the Aggregators
According to Hitwise, who was the most searched for celebrity in
the UK between October 2008 and January 2009?
The media landscape
What would an all-aggregator media plan look like
Audience crossover between main aggregators
10k
150k160k
2.2m UVs
760k UVs 750k UVs
Source: Google Adplanner
200k
Demographic breakdown of “aggregator.com”
Aggregator sites (aggregated!) All UK online users
More female
More middle aged
Empty nesters
Aggregator sites (aggregated!) All UK online users
Demographic breakdown of “aggregator.com”
Better educated
Not poor
Importance of aggregators
59% of insurance purchases involved 1+ visit to an aggregator during the research process.
10% of searches comes from aggregator terms.Comscore Custom analysis, Uk Population Q3,2007
Impact of trademark bidding changes at Google
Relaxation of trademark bidding on Google from 5 May
Recent research by Harvest suggested that the personal insurance sector was the most competitive in terms of
brand bidding.
More than 50% of searches on ‘home insurance’ go to just two aggregators
More than 40% of searches for “home insurance” go to just two aggregators
Direct insurers doing relatively OK on “travel insurance”
Aggregators are starting to use online media...
Gocompare.com £393,400
ComparetheMarket.com £106,400MoneySupermarket.com £1,212,500uSwitch.com £1,260,000Confused.com £48,900
TOTAL ONLINE MEDIA SPEND - 2008
...but their spend is dwarfed by the big finance brands
Aviva - Norwich Union £9,621,900
Churchill Insurance £1,357,500
Direct Line £1,859,900
Gocompare.com £393,400
ComparetheMarket.com £106,400MoneySupermarket.com £1,212,500uSwitch.com £1,260,000Confused.com £48,900
TOTAL ONLINE MEDIA SPEND - 2008
Is it all about price?
Searches for “cheap car insurance” are trending down
“Compare car insurance” is the new kid on the block
The time-pressured consumer
• Doesn’t have time to research the market
• Understands that cheapest is not best value
• Will buy the cheapest brand they recognise
• Cheapest in the aggregator tables is not always the most clicked
What else is new in the aggregator market?
ATL campaign extends into social media
Compare the Market’s social media strategy is supporting their advertising activity
The unique character of the Meerkat has enabled him to use social media platforms such as Twitter to build relationships with users & engage them with the brand
Though completely unrelated to insurance, the character is given a personality with humorous and entertaining substance that can’t help but draw attention to the brand resulting in high brand recall
Some genius moments...
Compare the market versus compare the meerkat
•According to Hitwise visits to Compare the Market have increased by 86% This corresponds with the traffic to Compare the Meerkat’s traffic.
•21% of the people visiting Compare the Meerkat went directly to Compare the Market.
•So in terms of brand ‘noise’ CTM are doing well.
They have missed a few tricks...
But...
Compare the Meerkat is only using social media as an alternative broadcast channel
Outside of Twitter, there is no real dialogue
But what happens when you let customers into the conversation?
Travel sector - top 10 sites by unique visitors
Retail sector - top 10 sites by unique visitors
Finance sector - top 10 sites by unique visitors
Moneysavingexpert overtakes Moneysupermarket
According to Hitwise, who was the most searched for celebrity
in the UK between October 2008 and January 2009?
Summing up
Consumers have moved on from ‘cheap’ to ‘compare’
Brands are still important – it isn’t all about price
Display media seems relatively under exploited by aggregators
Don’t worry about aggregators – Martin Lewis is your real problem
Top Related