• A new female insurance brand needs to get women to care
• Sheilas' Wheels stands out from rivals through a media plan that includes heavy investment in TV sponsorship
• The launch comfortably exceeds all targets and continues to perform in 2006

The challenge
Sheilas' Wheels was something new. A female-targeted car insurance brand from esure that wanted to be more than just a wallflower at the edge of the business.
It wanted to be big player but the trouble was making a splash in the car insurance world meant wading through dull, detailed, boring brands and most of the target market couldn't careless. In fact, while more than seven in 10 females aged 21-49 years old can drive, most rely on their parents or partners for their motor insurance.

Sheilas' Wheels put together a package that reflected the target market, as well as great prices it also included counselling services, handbag cover and female friendly mechanics.

The challenge now was to find a way to interest the target market.

The TV solution
The key to the whole media campaign was being different. It would not behave like its rivals. Out went strategies based on cheesy DR TV, dirty bus backs and small ads in classified columns.

Instead Sheilas' Wheels would only hang out in glamorous places, and it would behave like a fashion brand and turn women from passive dependents into active consumers of car insurance.

It invested heavily in TV sponsorship - taking 30% of the TV budget - specifically Living TV's drama strand, putting the brand next to shows such as Charmed, CSI and Grey's Anatomy. The deal covered 15 hours of drama every week and the success of this work led to sponsorship of Loose Women on ITV.
The Loose Women idents also promoted a competition to win a handbag worth up to £300, matching the level of cover offered by the policy, as well as the chance to download the Sheilas' Wheels tune as a ringtone.

TV spot advertising in the launch phase was also extensive, amounting to 1,215 TVRs in the first three months. Progammes targeted included Notting Hill on Channel 4, Victoria Beckham's Secrets on five and Coronation Street on ITV.

Other media continued this approach with ads in glossy magazines, before female-focused films in cinemas and outdoor near fashion outlets.

Results
TV was part of a multimedia campaign that successfully exceeded all its initial targets. The brand launched in October 2005 and beat initial targets by 64% and is currently 58% ahead of target in 2006. The brand continues to be marketed as a female lifestyle brand.