What makes our Mystery Tipper a winner?
by Julian Gratton
Our ‘Under the skin’ approach led us to understand Taxi drivers. That they are hard-working, hard-done-by, no nonsense characters. Getting their business can be tough, but once you’ve got it they can help you multiply it by word of mouth.
So when Swinton’s Taxi division came to us to ceate a promotion to drive enquiries for Taxi insurance… we knew we needed to create something special. Enter The Swinton Mystery Tipper. The campaign uses trade press, DM, flyers and shout outs on local radio to get the word out about a mysterious woman tipping cabbies a grand in different UK cities throughout 2008. No skill required, just a sticker. And to get a sticker, you have to get a quote. Easy, effective and successful, the Mystery Tipper’s appeal is its simplicity. It’s made a good few cabbies a grand richer and has given Swinton Taxi Division record results.
Taxi drivers read newspapers, listen to the radio and tuck into industry mags like Taxi Talk and Private Hire & Taxi Monthly – so adverts and editorials were placed there every month. Editorial is typically serious and newsy in these publications so the image of the Mystery Tipper with a fist full of cash really stands out. We worked with local radio stations and had presenters give shouts out to local cabbies telling them to get their sticker in time for the next ‘tip’, and sent DM to the full database. 
The best medium for cabbies is word of mouth, because luckily they like to talk a lot. Get them onside and they virtually do the work for you. That’s why there is a Mystery Tipper sticker, a visible presence in the cab, to create conversations ‘on the ranks’. Couple that with flyers, DM, letters to cab offices and editorials in their favourite magazines, and they couldn’t miss this campaign.
Creatively, it was all about evolving a likeable character that cabbies could look out for. A sassy cartoon character with a bright orange trilby (Swinton Taxi Division’s colour) and a fist full of cash she’s looking to offload, the Swinton Mystery Tipper is a pretty eyecatching figure, especially when on display in the window of a cab. A female character was chosen because it was less sinister than a male gangster type, and the cartoon effect gives her a look of the oddly lusted after Jessica Rabbit. On the website she ambles across the screen as a mysterious shadow with movie style detective music in the background – she’s even got a Facebook page. She’s everywhere and she can be recognised in an instant. In case you’re wondering who the tipper is, she’s a real live Swinton employee with blonde hair and a rather swanky trilby and mac. Her true identity is never revealed.
We sought out and commissioned an illustrator from Chicago responsible for some of the iconic Marvel Comics work for added authenticity and chutzpah.
The Mystery Tipper has already visited Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Bristol, Blackpool, Cambridge, Derby and Manchester. We weren’t allowed to go to London sadly (due to London Transport restrictions), but it’s great that other cities profit instead of running a capital-centric campaign. The annual Coventry Private Hire and Taxi exhibition is the largest of its kind in the UK, the Tipper was there and 4 lucky cabbies landed a grand each. Hundreds of quotes were given out and this heavy presence generated masses of interest and yet more coverage on blogs and forums. A record number of leads were generated, 800, at what was Swinton Taxi Division’s most successful exhibition ever.
Data capture was a crucial part of this campaign’s success and renewal dates are the jewel in the data capture crown across the insurance sector. The Mystery Tipper wasn’t created just to attract new customers – stickers went to the existing database to give them a chance to win too, and exploit the ‘cab rank visibility’ to aid retention.
Twelve consecutive record months of results – in a mature market, for a long-established division – is an exceptional result. The success of this year-long campaign, driving up business by 30%, proves that it captured the imagination of no-nonsense cabbies. A powerful concept, executed with acute attention to detail across every touchpoint from exhibitions to Facebook, it has created an uplift in enquiries, quotes and policies that will benefit the business for several years.
This is just one of the many great campaigns we have created at Red C that has enjoyed stunning results… if you’d like such a campaign creating for you, give Red C a call on 0161 872 1361 or click here
Tags: Advertising Concepts, B2B marketing Awards, Creative Concepts, Customer Acquisition, Direct Marketing, Direct Marketing Concepts, Direct Marketing that gets results, DMA Awards, DMA Winner, Financial Services, Mystery Tipper, Red C client, red c creative agency, Red C Marketing Manchester, Strategic Marketing Thinking, Swinton, Swinton Mystery Tipper, Swinton Taxi Division
