Swiftcover resorts to sex to spread their name

Swiftcover resorts to sex to spread their name: [Subscribe] - Newsdesks are inundated with press releases from insurance companies on a daily, often hourly, basis. The minimum expectation would be that they are relevant and informative on the subject of insurance. The readers are not expecting rocket science or lots of insurance jargon, however recent press releases from Swiftcover have been veering a step too far away from insurance and are verging on the ridiculous. A recent press release from Swiftcover details the results of a survey into our car habits and reveals that 67% of us have had sex in our cars and nearly half of us have done that at least twice. With all insurers, the links between the research they put out and the insurance product they are touting can sometimes be tenuous - but here there is simply none: "we asked people if they've had sex in their cars" and "please buy our car insurance" seems an act of desperation. Other releases such as a list of car games for children, how much James Bond might expect to pay for insurance on his Aston Martin, a list of car insurance prices for famous celebrities like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake and a discussion on how the hunter gatherer instinct has led to men being aggressive behind the wheel -- all point to how Swiftcover are dumbing down their insurance news in a thinly veiled attempt to gain a higher readership of their site and a few inches of column space. This recent sex-driven press release seems an extra push in a direction that has only gained them ridicule and taunts - not respect and reference. Swiftcover may be under the impression that there's no such thing as bad press -- but in insurance, where people are looking for someone reliable who spend their money wisely, bad press is damaging and just as unquantifiable as good press. Not all insurers feel the need to patronise their customers in this way. A quick look at the recent press releases of other major UK insurers shows that it is possible to remain interesting and informative while giving decent advice and factual news. Aviva appears to stick to corporate news and appointments, sprinkled with snippets of information on, for example, how young drivers are affected by peer pressure -- and at least when Aviva blow cash on celeb adverts, they keep their shirts on. Zurich see the importance of keeping their news interesting, but also relevant and have press releases covering how radio distracts drivers, the importance of insurance at music festivals and how to avoid DIY disasters. Finally Direct Line have focussed their research on how the summer is an important time for burglaries and how motorists are struggling to understand road signs. Tedious? Sometimes. Sexy? Never. For these three insurers and many more, the emphasis seems to be on conducting research that is relevant and useful for the insurance industry as a whole and as such is used in other forms of media across the internet, television and newspapers. Obviously this is good for the industry and for their reputations. It may not be Swiftcover's fault - the marketing company they've hired may have told them that Iggy Pop was responsible for their 30%+ increase in sales when the truth is, they probably would have gained more customers buying that amount of air time but NOT hiring Iggy. A quick search for "swiftcover iggy" on Google returns they hundreds, if not thousands, of people who now know they name Swiftcover but state they are now put off ever using them. To underestimate the intelligence of their customer is a dangerous game to play. Insurance pays for compensation for victims, it rebuilds houses after disasters, it rebuilds lives after injuries. Heat Magazine sells celebrity news and polls about sex. †