Marketing insurance in a downturn

The UK economy during the Blair years enjoyed strong growth with unemployment shrinking and house prices more than doubling across most of the nation. Financial services organisations, including insurers, responded by setting up schemes to encourage consumers to make the most of a credit rich culture with attractive products, tantalising loyalty schemes and effective up-sell tactics. Insurance firms, in particular, benefited as consumers increased their insurance coverage in response to the rising value of their possessions. Even the most optimistic minds accepted that the period of growth would inevitably come to a halt at some point. Caroline Worboys , chief executive of multi-channel marketing agency, Broadsystem, says with the economic slow down, marketing strategies need to be swiftly revised to reflect the current economic climate and social outlook. Profits can still be made, but this change, she argues, needs to be managed correctly in order to avoid public relations disasters such as the one suffered by financial brand Egg when it allegedly axed thousands of high-risk or low value customers as part of a cost cutting drive