Outstanding brands, stand out campaigns.
Outstanding brands, stand out campaigns.

BITING INTO
THE BIG APPLE

Every $1 spent built $172 of premium pipeline

Project details
Back
"This campaign launched us into the New York commercial real estate market with real impact. It delivered everything we hoped it would, and more."
Mike Varney, Executive Vice President
Who made it happen
Derah McCall – Marketing Director Beth Pegrum – Account Director Greg Phitidis – Brand Director Guy Cornet – Creative Director Dan Mason – Senior Designer Jonathan Evans – Senior Creative Shaun Gull – Production Manager Mark Sanders – Senior Copywriter
Who made it happen
Derah McCall – Marketing Director Beth Pegrum – Account Director Greg Phitidis – Brand Director Guy Cornet – Creative Director Dan Mason – Senior Designer Jonathan Evans – Senior Creative Shaun Gull – Production Manager Mark Sanders – Senior Copywriter

New York real estate insurance was ripe for the picking

New York City is the largest real estate market in North America, worth over $300bn. Varney is a family-owned insurance broker from Maine, based over 300 miles away.

Never short on ambition, the Varneys wanted a piece of the NYC real estate insurance market. But how could they muscle in as an out-of-state unknown, when broker relationships are notoriously hard to break, and New Yorkers notoriously hard to impress?

Our “Real estate insurance designed around you” campaign spoke directly to the frustrations of a specific audience segment and highlighted the weakness of their incumbent brokers.
The high impact, New York inspired creative struck a chord, building a multimillion dollar insurance premium pipeline in under three months.

Using Varney’s sweet spot to get to the core of the audience problem

We targeted the Mid-Market Go-Getter segment – owner-developers who want an insurance ally, and hate buying generic insurance.

Varney’s approach is to get into the detail of every development, working in partnership with the entrepreneur to find smarter ways to cover their risks. So, we positioned Varney against their complacent incumbent brokers with the campaign line, “Real estate insurance designed around you” which captures the personalised, entrepreneurial nature of Varney’s service.

Creative that packed some New York punch

Our creative brief called for a strongly branded campaign that would quickly establish that a new player had entered the NYC scene with a mission to change the status quo.

We brought the Varney brand identity to life with inspiration from renowned New York artist Saul Bass. Our ads screamed a refreshing approach, with high contrast headlines breaking through abstract building shapes.

Funnelling the audience down to key prospects

Using a combination of display advertising on key sites as well as social media we raised awareness and drove engagement to bring 75 people to an event to meet the Varney NYC team and find out more. That event created new contacts in 20 target businesses and generated 15 further meetings

A multi-million-dollar insurance premium pipeline built in three months

The effectiveness of the campaign far exceeded client expectations and insurance industry norms. Here’s how the campaign results break down:

Impressions

130,541

Engagements

1,235

Additional website visits

2,335

Invitations

344

Attendees

75

New contacts

20

Meetings booked / held

15

ROI

$172

of premium pipeline built for every $1 spent

Contact us

Call us on +44 20 7787 3001

Email hello@freepartners.com

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