Confused.com

History

Confused.com launched in 2001, becoming the UK’s first car insurance comparison site. It is based in Cardiff, Wales with its offices located near the headquarters of the Admiral Group. The Admiral Group floated on the London Stock Exchange in September 2004, it is currently the only FTSE100 listed company headquartered in Wales.

Confused.com is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Management

Confused.com has undergone a high degree of management churn in recent years. At the top level, founding Managing Director Kate Armstrong, an IT consultant originally from Sydney, retired from the business in 2005, following the successful floatation of the Admiral Group. She was succeeded by Deborah Williams who took the reins from 2005 to 2007. The business underwent expansive growth in this period with profit hitting £36 million in 2007. It was with some degree of surprise therefore that the industry received news of Williams' departure to join a relatively unknown insurance broker. Williams was succeeded by Carlton Hood in the newly created position of CEO. The sector was shaken up by the ground breaking Compare the Market campaign in 2009 and Confused.com, along with other established competitors lost market share. Hood resigned abruptly in 2010 and was succeeded by Group FD Kevin Chidwick as an interim measure.

Chidwick remained in place until January 2012 and was succeeded by Admiral Group senior manager Nic Weng Kan followed by Martin Coriat. Coriat was MD of Admiral-owned French comparison site LeLynx.fr until he took up the position of Confused.com CEO in October 2013.

The marketing department came under new management in July 2010 when Mike Hoban formally passed a six-month probation period and stepped into the role of marketing director. Prior to joining Confused.com, he spent 18 months as the Communications Director of Directgov, helping to position their website as the ‘nation’s official website'.

Awards

Confused.com have been recipients of a number of marketing and industry awards:

Advertising

In early years, Confused.com achieved success with a simple, repetitive direct response advertising format, in which a man with a megaphone shouted about exactly what Confused.com was offering. This led into the longest running of Confused.com’s campaigns, featuring simple cardboard props on a white background. In later years as competitors Moneysupermarket.com, Gocompare.com and Comparethemarket.com have entered the market, Confused.com has tried numerous different advertising vehicles. None have emulated the success of the initial campaign and Confused.com has slipped from the position of market leader to being the fourth largest car insurance comparison website in the UK. The popularity of the company's slogan 'Confused.com' rose to prominence after the success of the 2001 campaign. A 2002 study by Webster showed that the slogan was the third most used phrase of the year behind 'Hey you' and 'Naughty Soldier'.

Later adverts containing real life testimonials, featuring customers and prolific social media users talking about their experiences while using the website, as well as showcasing the website’s simplicity by explaining how it works.

Adverts in early 2010 focused on the concept of regret and featured members of the public lamenting that they could have purchased something they wanted if they had purchased their car insurance through Confused.com.

In September 2010, Confused.com introduced the character of "Cara Confused" a wild-haired animated version of the original company mascot that was present on the former Confused.com logo. The inspiration for the creation of Cara came from Kate Armstrong, the founder and former managing director of Confused.com. The campaign used the tagline, "it pays to be Confused.com". In February 2011 an advert started featuring Cara (voiced by West End star Louise Dearman) singing the Diana Ross track "Chain Reaction". Marketing Director Mike Hoban claimed that this campaign gained Confused.com 2 million customers since launch.

On 1 June 2013 a campaign launched featuring a robot named Brian, depicted as being on a mission to help people to "save pounds". On 24 December 2014, an advert was launched where scrap dealers kidnap Brian. Instead of melting him down straight away, they leave him hanging through the night on a magnet. However, his robot friends at headquarters receive his distress call and go to help him. A couple of weeks later the succeeding advert shows the same five co-robots, known as the Herberts (Chief Herbert, Miss Herbert, Stunt Herbert, Clever Herbert and Baby Herbert), go to help Brian. They stop the incinerator at the last moment, saving Brian and continuing the 'Brian' advertising campaigns after they repair him. In 2015, an advert was launched featuring Brian and the Herberts dancing to "Jump on It!" promoting the brand new Brian toy available by buying insurance through Confused.com. In early 2016, two more toys were launched, Miss Herbert and Stunt Herbert, with a corresponding campaign showing both characters competing with each other. On 1 August 2016, the adverts featuring the Robots were scrapped in favour of a new advertisement featuring James Corden.

Sponsorship

Confused.com has sponsored programmes on ITV such as Ninja Warrior UK, Sunday Night at the Palladium, Celebrity Squares and Catchphrase and The Simpsons on Sky 1. It also previously sponsored the ITV National Weather.