February 23rd, 2025
Insurance PR Campaign Winning Coach Sector Hearts
This phenomenal insurance PR campaign demonstrated the power of PR to win hearts and minds. It conveyed. in a truly high impact way, that a client’s message of “being on the side of the British coach driving community”, was more than empty words.
Catapult PR suggested the campaign to its client, fleet insurance broking specialist, McCarron Coates, at the hardest time for British coach drivers. This was mid-pandemic, when many other workers were receiving Government support and yet coach drivers were receiving nothing.
The coach community had already created a bit of noise – quite literally – through a Honk for Hope initiative. This saw coaches honking their horns, in big coach-bound resorts like Blackpool, to try to gain public support for the plight of their long-established, often family-run firms. However, they needed more people to come to their assistance.
This is precisely what Catapult PR’s insurance PR campaign did.
‘The Wish You Could Hear’ Campaign
Catapult recognised that political leaders needed to be made to listen to the message the coach community was seeking to convey. To try to encourage them to act and create some sort of financial relief package for coach operators, it suggested a lobbying PR campaign be rolled out.
Catapult drew on the essence of the coaching community – one entwined with the history of British seaside resorts – to create its campaign around a retro-style postcard. It sourced an image of a 1960s coach travelling around Great Orme, Llandudno, and used that as the front postcard’s cover. It then added a caption, putting a spin on the iconic postcard message of ‘wish you were here’, to make it read ‘wish you could hear’.
On the reverse, it penned a message, in the language a postcard writer might typically use, but with a twist. The message was, in fact, all about the plight of the coach industry and read as in the visual.
The roll-out
The postcard was publicised on social media, to make the coach trade aware of its existence. Coach operators were urged to request cards, which could then simply be sent to their local MP. Details of how to contact MPs were given and an electronic version of the postcard was made available too. In addition, 6500 postcards were distributed through CBW (Coach and Bus Week). Catapult liaised with the organisers of Honk for Hope, to ensure their support.
The MP Visit
An invitation, using the postcard, was extended to the MP for Morley and Outwood – the constituency in which McCarron Coates is based. The MP and her assistant subsequently attended a meeting at McCarron Coates’ office. There, she heard first-hand of the plight of operators. The meeting was also attended by operators, both in-person and via internet link, so their stories could be told. A photo opportunity, with a giant postcard prop, was arranged with the MP, an operator from J&B Travel, and the McCarron Coates directors. All stood n front of a Honk for Hope branded bus.
Blackpool Transport Photo-call
Catapult PR reached out to the incoming president of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, who was also head of Blackpool Transport. We offered to send a giant postcard to Blackpool Transport, if they too could add to the campaign by staging a photo-call. They agreed and another lobbying photo was taken in front of Blackpool Tower, with operator Waltons Coaches. They, and the CPT, also urged support of the campaign in online posts, as well as in a press story.
Results
Whilst it is hard to measure goodwill and its business impacts, the amount of goodwill generated by this insurance PR campaign was phenomenal. McCarron Coates demonstrated it was more than just a broker and completely aligned with the causes that mattered to its clients. Major press articles were generated but it was the response from the coaching community that was truly important.
One comment on social media read, “Extremely proud of Ian and Paul at McCarron Coates, who have stood up to be counted with the coach industry, facilitating MP meetings for operators and highlighting the issues facing the coach industry, through the fantastic awareness campaign, Wish You Could Hear.”
The CPT promoted the campaign through their channels too, saying, “I urge every MP, Visit England and all Local Authorities to have a voice on behalf of our coach industry”, tagging McCarron Coates into the tweet. Similarly, tweets went out from the MP.
Operator, Anthony Bamber of Anthony’s Travel, said that McCarron Coates, “demonstrated first-class care for their coach sector clients and highlighted they are real people that fully understand their clients’ needs and businesses, not brokers sitting in an ivory tower. They were there for us at every turn. Their support of the coach sector was second-to-none and their ‘Wish You Could Hear’ campaign helped us get our voices heard for once. They underlined for me that there is no better broker in whose hands my business is better placed.”
Other comments were in a similar vein and were posted by operators, Honk for Hope and also transport-sector solicitors and other professionals.
Other campaign impacts
Most importantly, this insurance PR and marketing campaign led to questions and a discussion about the coach sector’s plight in the Houses of Commons. The Hansard records show the discussion referenced the ‘Wish You Could Hear’ campaign.
For McCarron Coates, the insurance PR campaign not only created incredible levels of customer loyalty, and new clients, once the coach sector got back on its feet, but also the evidence that helped the brokerage win a National Insurance Award, a British Insurance Award and a UK Broker national award. This added even more credibility for the brokerage’s offering. Wish You Could Hear was again referenced by the awards judges.
Through Catapult PR’s insurance PR campaign, the brokerage was able to demonstrate the true essence of insurance broking – being there for clients in their greatest hour of need.
