The results  

During the first week of the campaign, the client experienced impressive engagement, with a significant increase in website views and visits to the landing page. By the end of the campaign, the firm had secured numerous new taxi insurance sign-ups. 

Phil Stafford of SEP Insurance said, “Working with Bold St Media on the creation and launch of Cabbie Barry has been fantastic and the whole process has been seamless from initial conception through to project completion. We loved watching Cabbie Barrie come to life from Rowan’s original sketches, and watch our new brand develop into an animated character.”  

Phil added, “We know that Cabbie Barry still needs some time to settle into the market and develop as a brand and we are excited to see how the business will progress over time. Not only were we successful in developing a new visual identity, we have also been able to test and learn which channels are most impactful and cost-effective for future campaigns.” 

The challenge  

SEP Insurance supply a range of different types of wheels based and commercial insurance, and required a separate arm of the business to deal with an increased customer demand for taxi insurance specifically. SEP Insurance needed to keep the taxi insurance part of their business as a separate entity to enable them to focus the main business on commercial and other wheels-based insurance. By channelling all taxi insurance policies through Cabbie Barry, allows them to target a specific market separately, who may otherwise not have been aware that taxi insurance was an option as part of SEP Insurance.  

The solution 

We worked closely with SEP Insurance to develop and implement a multi-channel PR and Marketing campaign that would reach their target audience.  

The first step was the design process and sparking some inspiration. One of the sources of inspiration for the style of Cabbie Barry was Jon Klassen. His simple forms and textures make his characters recognisable, and interesting. We wanted to use some interesting textures and brushstrokes to make Cabbie Barry appear as if he could be a children’s book character – reliable, trust-worthy and charming.  

The next step was putting together a range of sketches to the client. We showed a couple of options of styling that could then be taken forward and developed. Giving the client a real visual of the different directions they could take a concept can help power further ideas for development.  

The last step was getting together with our marketing team and discussing what messages we’d like to use in advertising the business. This informed the final illustrations that were produced. 

• Out Of Home bus rears to target taxi drivers that may be driving behind busses (see graphics below). 
• Radio advertising on Heart FM to target taxi driver listeners in the local area directly as we knew that many drivers would be listening in cab to local radio stations throughout the da.   
• A post-launch press release announcing the launch of the new business 
• An engaging organic social media campaign including motion graphics  

The Client 

SEP Insurance, headquartered in Bootle, Liverpool offers a range of insurance solutions such as commercial insurance, liability insurance, and professional indemnity. The company is also a specialist in wheels-based business insurance including taxi, courier, fleet and HGV insurance. SEP Insurance has offices in Bootle, Chester and now Southport, with a total headcount of 21.  The business has a portfolio of more than 3000 clients nationwide. 

For more information: https://www.sep-insurance.co.uk/