business woman
in brand awareness and we are now consistently providing more than two million insurance quotes a month. We’re all very pleased with how Gio has been received. Yes, some people find him annoying, but that’s just because the campaign airs so often. And the man behind the moustache, local tenor Wynne Evans, is an extraordinarily talented man and has become a good friend. When you meet Wynne it’s hard not to like Gio too.
You’re a working mum – how do you cope? It’s difficult to run a rapidly-growing company and a household without some help, and I’ve always been adamant that my sons should be picked up from school by one of their parents. So we made the decision that Mark, my partner, would quit his job as the sales and marketing director of a busy printing firm and stay at home. This wasn’t an easy decision to make but, in hindsight, we’re all glad we did. I call him a house husband, he calls himself a
man of leisure, so we have debates over his job description sometimes, but it works really well for all of us and enables me to enjoy the best of both worlds. I genuinely love working and always have.
In fact, I couldn’t wait to leave school and get my first job. But I have found that surrounding myself with talented people keeps me motivated too.
How do keep a business like
Gocompare.com successful? In a word: people. We couldn’t have achieved what we have without putting our faith in the
Gocompare.com team. Having the right team in place is crucial and we have worked hard to build a team of talented and driven people, many of whom we have hand-picked and created roles for because we wanted that specific person.
Are you hands on? Oh yes. I have my own office, called ‘The Dragon’s Den’, but I only ever use it for meetings. I prefer to sit in the main office, among all the hustle and bustle. That way, people can come up to me for a chat; I can hear what’s going on and discuss projects and plans openly.
Have you always worked in insurance? I left school at 16 and went to work for a local insurance broker where I handwrote the cover notes and did other admin work. I loved it. The people were amazing and the industry gave me a real buzz. I knew it was where I wanted to be.
What did you want to be when you were growing up? An interior designer! You never know, I could have been on Changing Rooms instead of Linda Barker or Anna Ryder Richardson.
How did the idea of Gio come up? I love Gio. He was actually the brainchild of Sian and Chris Wilkins, a talented husband and wife advertising team who also created the infamous Sheilas for Sheilas’ Wheels and the
cult Cadbury’s Smash Martians campaign. Our previous adverts had done their job,
educating the consumer about the merits of price comparison sites. But people know what we are and what we do now, so the challenge was to make sure that when people received their car insurance renewal letter, their first thought would be ‘Gocompare!’. I told Chris and Sian that I wanted a
campaign that would stick in people’s minds. I think it’s safe to say that, with Gio, we got just that.
Are you pleased with the way he has been received? Since we introduced Gio Compario to the world in August 2009, we’ve seen a 60 per cent increase in quote volumes, a 450 per cent uplift
What do you think of the Apprentice? I love it! I get very frustrated with some of the silly things they do and they make me so mad sometimes but I’m addicted. Men tend to shout things at the TV when their football team is playing, and I do the same when The Apprentice is on. My money’s on Jim to win this year, there’s just something about him...
Is there a glass ceiling or do you think it is in the mind? I think that women preoccupy themselves with the glass ceiling. If you believe it’s there then you’re going to bang your head on it! Rather than thinking about what’s stopping you, think about what you can do so that you simply can’t be ignored. Perhaps I was spoiled at Admiral, which was a fantastic place to work, but I got
THEbusiness QUARTER 17
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