UM
Autoglass
Creating sustainable business advantage

Autoglass has enjoyed a successful run of marketing in recent years, becoming one of the UK's biggest radio advertisers.

In 2008, the windscreen and glass replacement service decided to test television ads for the first time, after seeing its market decline considerably following a reduction in car crime and a drop in the number of miles driven.

A fantastic response to its TV ad helped Autoglass enter a new era, changing the way it deals with demand and restructuring its customer contact centre, website and field operations, as well as changing how it trains and recruits its technicians.

Autoglass marketing executives knew that ignorance and apathy were the two main barriers to the company's much-needed growth and that overcoming inertia was critical. It also recognised that perceptions of Autoglass had become very functional, so there was an opportunity for emotional factors to come into play in promoting windscreen repair services.

The ad campaigns, devised by Universal McCann, focused on those people most likely to do something about a chip in their windscreen. The creatives focused on education, relevance and accessibility.

Four distinct campaigns ran throughout 2008, using regional terrestrial television to enable Autoglass to test the responsiveness of TV and its effect.

Results showed that, in the areas where TV was the only advertising medium used, uplift was 143 per cent, while in the areas where TV and radio were used simultaneously, uplift was 108 per cent.

However, because of the lower cost of using TV and radio in combination, the latter approach proved the most profitable strategy.

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