Is officials: meerkat marketing works

I’m now the very proud owner of Maiya – meerkat teacher from Meerkovo. I was secretly hoping for Sergei or Aleksandr, but Maiya is much more apt for someone like me who loves education.

The seed for considering switching car insurance through ComparetheMarket.com was planted by brilliant advertising – on TV, radio and billboards. Actually, the latter nearly caused me to prang the car, but anyways …

Congratulations, as Aleksandr says, to the marketers who came up with the idea to give away limited edition meerkat toys and more congratulations to the clever advertising execs who built up the desire to get my hands on one.

When the insurance came up for renewal, I had to give it a go. I didn’t go for the cheapest quote, but I did get a Which? Recommended insurer at 30 quid less than our existing supplier. Which? + £30 + meerkat toy = no brainer. I’d been seduced and switched.

Then came the really clever part. First, the online video with the Meerkovo meerkats personally thanking me ‘for knowing difference between meerkat and market’. With links to share my movie on Twitter and Facebook. How cool.

Next, the ‘Postkat tracker’ where I could track delivery from Yakov’s workshop to my door. What a fantastic way to keep your new customer engaged with the brand. Excellents!

It took a while - until the penny dropped and I read the smallprint – to actually get my meerkat. Of course, it wouldn’t actually arrive until the policy started and I’d gone past the cooling off period. But fair dos, they kept me smiling with the occasional email and made the wait both fun and a hot topic of conversation with family members following Postkat’s ‘journey’ across Europe.

When my meerkat arrived is was surprisingly top quality and came with ‘officials certificate’ and a lovely on-brand letter from Aleksandr.

All told, it is a brilliant piece of marketing - executed to perfection and completely living up to the brand offer in the ads and carried through 100% on-brand in every detail of the ensuing comms and collateral.

I read an article the other day saying that CTM won’t be able to take the meerkat brand much further. I disagree. The creativity to date has been top drawer (love the new Susie Dixon ad). And the brand affinity built up with customers has surely converted more than yours truly.

The only thing I’d suggest would be to add some cause-related marketing into the mix. Meerkats are, afterall, community spirited and it would be a natural brand extension for Alexsandr to appear in a campaign that benefitted a good cause. I could just see him in his own version of a Red Nose or Pudsey spotted hanky with some simples method to donate to charity!


Debbie Griffiths www.idealconsulting.co.uk