The Specialist Works

London

Moving up the funnel with ManyPets: From underdog to Top Dog

Background

In 2019 pet insurer ManyPets came to us with a clear objective; deliver policy sales while also building brand awareness. At the time, prompted awareness was in single digits, and we had just half of the ATL budget that the market leader PetPlan had[1].

For a business built around mitigating risk, ManyPets' board was resolute that all activity had to be accountable. Every pound had to perform. If it didn't, it would be pulled.

The big idea

We knew the theory: research demonstrates that financial products require an 80:20 Brand:DR investment ratio to sustain long-term growth[2]. ManyPets' ratio was the reverse (30:70). To unlock growth, we knew we needed to move up the funnel, but we couldn't rely on theory alone.

To get the board's buy-in to activity beyond direct response, we had to execute it in a way that didn't compromise on in-year sales performance. It had to be entirely de-risked.

We planned a two-speed approach, where we 1) over-delivered in response driving activity to provide incremental returns, which could then 2) be redirected to fund awareness-driving activity.

Making it happen

Since the brand's inception, a focus on direct attribution had led to almost all investment being focused on performance digital channels, with the only offline activity on a few low-impact TV stations. These were chosen for their low CPTs, and ManyPets had already hit the point of diminishing returns.

We replanned the DRTV, cherry-picking programming across a broader station mix to better reach our core audience. Within two months, our target audience reach had increased, and sales saw double-digit growth, with no change in the budget. This over-delivery of sales gave the board confidence in our approach and allowed us the flexibility to redirect a small proportion of the budget into test activity designed to impact brand metrics.

We ran multiple ATL tests, using incrementality modelling to identify the impact each one had on brand and performance metrics. This included radio in isolation, radio and OOH combined, and radio, OOH and sponsorship combined.

Throughout the years, we maximised efficiencies in direct response activity to fuel the tests.

Results

Three years on, our Brand:DR ratio has evolved from 30:70 to 45:55, and the evolution continues. Alongside hitting policy sales targets every year, brand health has soared.

Both prompted and unprompted awareness have increased exponentially[3], leading to an increase in the proportion of sales occurring directly with ManyPets.

Using share of search as an indicative proxy for market share (where data is unavailable), ManyPets' share has grown from 14% to 24% in three years, stealing share from PetPlan in particular[4].