While the business enjoyed a strong reputation and deep heritage within the insurance sector, its brand, digital presence and marketing activity no longer fully reflected the quality of its offer, expertise or ambitions for the future.
Marketing activity was being managed alongside other responsibilities, and an existing agency relationship lacked the strategic clarity needed to deliver maximum value.
My approach
My first step was to understand the business, its ambitions and the challenges it was facing.
Through discussions with the leadership team, SWOT analysis, competitor review and an assessment of Lumley’s marketing activity, brand and channels, I built a picture of where the business was, where it wanted to be and what might stand in the way.
I also explored the existing agency relationship and reviewed recent activity to understand what was working well and where greater focus was needed.
What I uncovered
My review highlighted a significant gap between Lumley’s reputation and ambitions on one hand, and its brand, marketing capability and supporting infrastructure on the other.
The business had a loyal client base, a respected position within the sector and clear aspirations for growth. However, its brand, website and messaging no longer reflected the evolving business or differentiated it clearly in a competitive market.
Marketing activity was being shared across colleagues with other responsibilities, limiting the time available for strategic planning and delivery. Growth ambitions were not yet supported by the communications, marketing and data infrastructure needed to underpin the next phase of development.
Importantly, looking into the agency’s work in progress revealed the challenge wasn’t their capability but a need for more strategic clarity client-side, regarding priorities and desired outcomes. This created an opportunity to refocus the effort.
It became clear that Lumley did not simply need more marketing activity. The business needed skills, capacity and a strategic focus on comms and marketing to underpin its ambitious goals.
Turning insight into action
- What began as a request for marketing support evolved into a broader programme of work focused on building a modern marketing function and brand platform.
Repositioning the brand for growth
- It became apparent that incremental changes to the brand would not be enough. A comprehensive rebrand was needed to better reflect Lumley’s expertise, reputation and future direction
- Working closely with the leadership team and Mobas, I led the rebrand programme, overseeing the design and development of a new visual identity, messaging framework, tone of voice and website.
Creating clarity and alignment
- Early discussions revealed that the challenge was not agency capability but a lack of strategic clarity around priorities and desired outcomes
- By helping the leadership team define clearer priorities and refocusing the brief around the rebrand and website transformation, I helped create a strong basis for collaboration between Lumley and its agency partners.
Building capacity and capability
- Recognising the need for greater marketing capacity, I helped Lumley build a delivery model that combined internal resource with specialist external support
- I supported the recruitment of a Marketing Executive, helping to shape the role, contribute to the selection process and support onboarding. To accelerate progress and fill specific skills gaps, I also sourced a team of freelance specialists, including copywriting, creative and social media
- This blended approach is enabling Lumley to make significant progress while building internal capability for the longer term. I continue to oversee the Marketing Executive and freelance resource.
Strengthening the foundations
- Alongside the rebrand, I developed a communications and marketing strategy to support Lumley’s growth ambitions and worked closely with the business to strengthen the foundations needed for long-term success
- This included helping to define CRM requirements, improving the use of customer data and working alongside the Business Development team to create stronger alignment between marketing activity and commercial goals
- To ensure the evolving brand was rooted in the organisation’s culture, I also facilitated collaborative workshops with employees to develop a refreshed set of company values.
Outcomes
The work has helped Lumley establish strong foundations for growth, including:
- A complete brand transformation encompassing visual identity, messaging, the introduction of a new strapline, tone of voice and a new website
- A successful brand launch at Badminton Horse Trials, generating positive feedback from insurers, clients and partners and creating momentum ahead of a series of co-hosted events with partners including UK Sotheby’s International Realty and Enness Global
- Greater confidence in pursuing partnership-led communications and thought leadership opportunities, including contributions to the Luxury Property Forum’s Luxury Reportand an interview with John Lumley featured by Enness Global
- A stronger and more productive relationship with agency partners, built around shared priorities and a clearer strategic focus
- A flexible marketing delivery model combining in-house, agency and freelance expertise, providing the capacity needed to support growth without building a large internal team
- A tangible increase in internal engagement, with employees showing greater confidence in the brand and proactively contributing ideas to raise awareness
Embedding measurement and accountability
With the foundations in place, the focus is now shifting to measurement and accountability.
Working closely with the Leadership Team and Business Development colleagues, I am helping to establish KPIs that align communications and marketing activity with Lumley’s commercial objectives across both B2C and B2B audiences.
Alongside this, we are developing a fit-for-purpose monitoring and reporting framework that will provide meaningful insight into performance, helping the team assess the effectiveness of communications and marketing activity in raising awareness, supporting partnerships and generating leads.