Member Article

A fresh face in the stale insurance market

How do you take an industry by the lapels and shake it into life? That is what Kevin Gillan, the newly appointed managing director of US insurance brand SquareTrade, aims to do as he is tasked with breaking the brand in the UK. Bdaily talked to Kevin to find out more.

Kevin was formerly director of Carphone Warehouse, and admits that he was at first dubious about coming to an insurance company.

He said: “When I was first approached for this role, I wasn’t told who it was. I knew it was an insurance firm, and initially thought it wasn’t for me.

“I eventually found out it was SquareTrade, so I did some research and soon found that it could be a really interesting opportunity.

“If you think about the insurance or warranty market in the UK at the moment, it’s not very exciting, and certainly not consumer focussed. It’s had a bad rap for a number of years, and consumers don’t trust it.”

The San Franciscan company are aiming to break the UK market, by delivering a customer-centric service that “speaks for itself.”

“I’ve always had a strong interest in getting involved with businesses that are very traditional, or backward, and coming in with something from a customer point of view,” adds Kevin.

“It has a lot of that San Francisco vibe about it. Apple, Google and Facebook - they’re all based out there. SquareTrade is really a marketing-lead company.

“If you visited the offices, you’d never think you were in an insurance company. It’s pretty important. It’s much more like a product than a contract.”

Kevin hopes that SquareTrade can achieve the same type of market penetration as the likes of AA, as a go-to brand.

He says a lot of brands have previously charged too much for their products, and their processes are too much hassle.

“I know some industries that just set themselves up not to speak to customers. Sometimes these companies can be fairly faceless,” he adds.

“You could be taking out a policy with a well known retail brand, but actually, it’s another company that sits behind it.”

Last year, SquareTrade developed Tesco and Asda as major UK retailers of their products. Leveraged from the US, Amazon represented a big win for the firm.

Kevin says he has his eye on another two potential retailers this year, and aims to sustain the momentum of the past 18th months.

The decision for SquareTrade, a young business, to make the step abroad was an important one Kevin explains.

“There’s always a fine line between winning business and then investing in teams and so on. You have to take those steps quite carefully.

“That’s my challenge as we continue on with the business - to make sure we invest wisely and recruit the right types of people, and build the right types of contact centres and so on.

“We have to make sure the investment in the UK is in line with winning business as well, and that’s not so straightforward. There’s no strict science.”

So, how is Kevin going to communicate the SquareTrade USP to the UK market? He suggests above the line marketing wouldn’t sit right with the brand.

He adds: “It wouldn’t be in line with our ethos, and I’d rather let the customers decide for themselves.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .