All Response Media wins £8m Beatthatquote.com account

by Lisa Simmons, Media Week 08-May-07

LONDON - Financial services price comparison website Beatthatquote.com has awarded All Response Media its £8m media account, following a competitive pitch involving two other media and creative agencies.

The above-the-line consumer launch will be executed solely by All Response Media, which has handled the site's pay-per-click account for more than six months.

Colin Gillespie, managing director of All Response Media, said that Beatthatquote.com aims to lure consumers from rival website Moneysupermarket.com, which offers a similar online comparison service on mortgages, credit cards, loans, home and car insurance, annuities and investments.

He added that All Response Media aimed to make Beatthatquote.com a more "proactive and intuitive proposition". The drive will kick off across television by the third quarter of this year and will combine both direct response and brand-building activity. Other channels will be added later.

Gillespie said: "There will be a mix of terrestrial and multichannel marketing, across daytime TV and cable and satellite TV. Television will be the mainstay, but depending on how the return on investment goes, we'll add more channels."

Housing the search and TV activity under one roof, with the agency already handling pay-per-click for Beatthatquote.com, will strengthen the marketing push, Gillespie said.

He added: "There is one agency for buying across both TV and search, which means we can optimise the search strategy in line with TV. To have it under one intellectual property is an advantage."

Gillespie said that whereas Moneysupermarket.com has tended to run brand-oriented campaigns, Beatthatquote.com was looking more to gain brand response, in addition to raising general awareness.

"This is an example of a pure-play internet company, which traditionally is concerned with awareness, using a direct response agency, and this deal is all about direct response and return on investment," he said.