comparethemarket.com Extends Popular Rewards Scheme to Motorbike and Life Insurance

LONDON, October 17, 2011 -

One of the UK’s leading price comparison sites comparethemarket.com has launched the latest in a series of TV adverts promoting its Simples Rewards Scheme.  The scheme, which offers customers a free exclusive meerkat toy based on characters from its popular ad campaign, has been extended to include motorbike and life insurance.

The new advert features Aleksandr and Sergei travelling 30,000ft in the air to find cabin crew member Susie Dixon. They are there to deliver a toy as a reward for buying home insurance from comparethemarket.com and knowing the difference between meerkat and market.  In the advert Aleksandr successfully delivers a meerkat toy, while Sergei unsuccessfully tries to get his ears to pop!

Previously the scheme allowed all customers who bought pet, van, home or car insurance through comparethemarket.com to claim a meerkat toy. Now that the scheme has been extended, customers who buy motorbike and life insurance will also be eligible, allowing more people to get their hands on the popular toys. The toys are not available for sale and the only way consumers can receive one is by purchasing qualifying insurance via comparethemarket.com.

Mark Vile, Marketing Director at comparethemarket.com said: “Aleksandr and his Meerkovo friends have been hugely popular with consumers since the campaign began. The huge response to the Simples Rewards scheme has meant that we are now extending the scheme to motorbike and life insurance purchases too. We hope viewers will enjoy our latest advert and go on to claim a meerkat character of their own when buying insurance through comparethemarket.com.”

Specialising in more than just car insurance, comparethemarket.com provides customers with an easy way to find the right deal on a wide range of insurance and financial products including home insurance, van insurance, motorbike insurance, life insurance, pet insurance and credit cards.  

For more details on Simples Rewards visit www.meerkovo.com or www.comparethemarket.com  

About Meerkovo and Simples Rewards

Meerkovo, a small village based just outside of Moscow, is the home of best-selling author and founder of comparethemeerkat.com Aleksandr Orlov.  

Meerkovo is going through troubled times because people in the UK keep confusing comparethemeerkat.com with comparethemarket.com when looking for cheap deals on insurance. This is clogging up the meerkat comparison site, so to try and solve this confusion Aleksandr asked Sergei, his trusty IT assistant, to build Meerkovo.com to provide fans with the opportunity to see Aleksandr’s home village.

Now Aleksandr has launched Simples Rewards, a scheme to reward people who know the difference between meerkat and market.  From 4th July, the meerkats of Meerkovo have been giving everyone who buys car, van, pet and home insurance through comparethemarket.com the chance to claim a free meerkat toy at meerkovo.com.  From 6^th October, customers who buy motorbike and life insurance will now also be eligible to claim a toy.

The range of six toys comprises: Aleksandr; Sergei; Vassily, the pub rocker; Maiya the school mistress; Bogdan, the meerpup; and Yakov, the toymaker.  

The Simples Rewards scheme is subject to terms and conditions.

About Aleksandr Orlov

Meerkat entrepreneur Alesksandr Orlov first hit our screens in January 2009.  He became an internet phenomenon overnight and today has nearly 800,000 Facebook fans and almost 50,000 Twitter followers.  Over 50,000 people enquired about buying the original Aleksandr soft toy when it went on sale in Harrods in 2009, while his iSimples was downloaded over 750,000 times.   Aleksandr’s “A Simple’s  Life”  sold over 500,000 copies, hitting the No.1 spot in the Christmas bestseller list and outselling autobiographies, Tony Blair, Katie Price, Michael McIntyre and Keith Richards.

About comparethemarket.com

• comparethemarket.com was launched in 2006 as a motor insurance comparison site, offering customers a wide range of competitively priced insurance quotes instantly online.  
• comparethemarket.com has grown rapidly over the past three years and is now one of the UK’s leading price comparison brands.  
• As well as insurance, comparethemarket.com also offers comparisons on credit cards, loans, current accounts and savings accounts.
• comparethemarket.com actively selects its brand partners, working with the best and most trusted organisations to ensure quality service to consumers.

comparethemarket.com is a trading name of BISL Limited.  BISL Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Registered Address: Pegasus House, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, PE2 6YS. Registered in England number 3231094.

Holly Dedman at Good Relations, Tel: +44(0)20-7861-3106, Email: hdedman at goodrelations.co.uk