Bauer Media has entered into a partnership to launch Stella – a female centric car insurance brand that will compete for a slice of the $10.5 billion automotive insurance market.
Underwritten by QBE, Stella is a collaboration between Bauer Media, Freedom Group, Viper Capital and Envest.
The company will leverage Bauer’s deep understanding of Australian women for marketing, media and insights, the marketing acumen of Viper Capital and the collective insurance experience of entrepreneur Sam White’s Freedom Group and Envest, an investment group specialising in insurance start-ups, to bring to market a car insurance product by women for women.
Bauer research shows there are currently more than 4.5 million women aged 25-64 in Australia with comprehensive car insurance. Women are statistically safer drivers than men and make the majority of household purchasing decisions. They also often, don’t understand their car insurance policy and feel their loyalty is not rewarded.
Drawing on the expertise of Bauer’s commercial content and insights division, Story54, and leading the development of the Stella brand launch campaign, Bauer is providing full marketing services including research, talent sourcing, creative, media and communications strategy and execution.
Jane Waterhouse, general manager at Story54 said: “Women are often overlooked when it comes to the marketing of car insurance, but with our portfolio of brands across food, fashion, entertainment & lifestyle and homes, and the ability to reach almost six in ten Australian women every month, Bauer is well placed to address this imbalance. Stella was created to uniquely offer car insurance for women by women.
“We were able to apply our deep understanding of women to form a product and campaign that breaks category stereotypes. As a challenger brand, we have lifted what is a typically male-focused and unexciting category with a touch of humour and strong female talent.”
Comedian and former Triple J radio host Gen Fricker, who is known for her dead-pan accounts of what modern womanhood is about, is the spokesperson for the Stella brand. The campaign includes a video series and editorial content running across Bauer Media’s portfolio of brands and print, digital display and social media advertising.
Stella is backed by the Freedom Group which was founded by British entrepreneur and trailblazer in insurance and financial services, Sam White.
Sam White is also the founder and CEO of insurance services provider, Action 365 and Pukka Insure. She employs over 240 people in the UK and is known as an instigator of change in the UK’s financial services industry and for her active promotion of women and diversity in the sector.
Sam White added: “I’m beyond delighted that Stella is now live. It’s long been a frustration for me that in the UK I’m not able to appropriately reward women for their better driving abilities (due to the EU directive on gender discrimination in insurance), so the opportunity to launch a female centric insurtech in Australia has been the realisation of a long term passion. We really want to change the game in insurance in a number of different ways.
“The partnership with Aventus does just that. Our insurtech platform delivers a new and cutting-edge customer experience with their proprietary technology. Through Stella, we will hopefully show Australian women (and men) that insurance does not have to be hard to buy, difficult to engage with, or lack relevant and useful rewards. We want people to fall in love with insurance! It’s a tough ask, but we are very much up for the challenge.”
Stella will also support female-focused business, with a percentage of premiums used to help fund the next generation of entrepreneurs with the vision of backing 10 new start-ups by 2025.
Credits:
Bauer Media, Story54
General Manager: Jane Waterhouse
Creative Director: Clare Catt
Art Director: Jen Duong
Content Director: Sarah Macrae
Producers: William York, Samantha Lawrence
Media Strategy: Clare Morton
Account Management: Karla Kempson
Account Implementation: Jade O’ Brien
Talent:
Gen Fricker
Music:
Written by: Gen Fricker, Sarah Macrae, Jane Waterhouse
Production, The Situation Room
Director: Bruce Walters
Producer: Janine Moller
DOP: Geoff Blee
Stella
CEO: Sam White
General Manager: Renee Cosgrove
Marketing Manager: Anita Manchester
