and insurance founded 2006 headquarters peterborough cambridgeshire uk products financial services website https www.comparethemarket.com comparethemarket.com is a uk price comparison website that is part of the bgl group . the website also offers other on line companies the ability to provide their customers with a co branded or white labelled comparison service . 1 founded in 2006 the website achieved significant success in the market following the launch in 2009 of an advertising campaign featuring a series of meerkat characters after which it became the third largest price comparison website in the uk . contents 1 history 1.1 comparison products 1.2 compare the meerkat campaign 1.3 other adverts 1.4 meerkat movies 2 references 3 external links history edit the website was set up by budget group now bgl group in early 2006 2 following a strategic decision to concentrate on areas with significant smaewth potential it sold its high street business to swinton as part of the same review . 3 it competes with other aggregators operating in the same field such as moneysupermarket.com launched in 1993 confused.com 2001 gocompare.com 2006 quotall.com 2010 and free price compare 2013 . 4 in mid 2007 comparethemarket.com struck a deal reputedly worth 5 million with uk tv channel 4 to sponsor its drama output . 5 the idents were created by vccp a subsidiary of chime communications plc 5 which comparethemarket.com had appointed in march 2007 to manage its 20 million advertising account . 6 in march 2008 the website launched an advertising campaign on virgin radio which asked listeners and online audiences to compare artists and bands with musical legends for the chance of winning tickets to major gigs . 7 comparison products edit compare the market allows customers to compare prices on a number of insurance products including car home van life pet travel and over 50s insurance . it has also expanded in to the comparison of items that can be switched such as energy utilities broadband and digital tv as well as a range of financial products such as loans credit cards and isas . compare the market claim that they make comparing the market easy and show as many providers as possible with some brands choosing not to pay the fee to appear on the site preferring instead to run their own marketing campaigns such as direct line . compare the meerkat campaign edit the aleksandr orlov meerkat character used in the company s advertising since 2009 main article compare the meerkat on 5 january 2009 the company launched an advertising campaign created by vccp with characters designed and adverts directed by darren walsh at passion pictures . the adverts feature a cgi russian meerkat character named aleksandr orlov voiced by simon greenall 8 who pleads with viewers looking for cheap car insurance to stop confusing his meerkat comparison website comparethemeerkat.com with comparethemarket.com due to the similarity between the words meerkat and market . comparethemeerkat.com a website created by the advertising agency does indeed allow visitors to compare meerkats and was reporting more than 2 million hits per month by late 2010 . 9 according to nielsen online the number of monthly unique visitors to comparethemarket.com increased from 218 000 in february 2008 to 1.1 million in february 2009 driven by the successful campaign . 10 by july 2009 it was ranked as the third largest price comparison website in the uk . 11 in august 2009 an opinion piece in the guardian newspaper accused the advert series of racism for mocking eastern european accents . however the advertising standards authority following a complaint by the author of the article stated that it had not received any similar complaints . 12 from 1 july 2011 any customer purchasing insurance or credit card via comparethemarket.com receives a cuddly meerkat toy . 13 originally customers would get sent a meerkat toy from the collection but later customers were able to choose from a host of meerkat characters aleksandr sergei vasilly yakov maya or bogdan . compare the market would soon launch several special editions of their toys such as maya in a spy costume baby oleg who was introduced on 25 december 2013 in a safari costume and sergei and aleksandr dressed in a batman and superman costume to celebrate the launch of batman v superman dawn of justice . on 12 november 2012 the website started sponsoring the long running soap opera coronation street on itv in a three year deal costing around 30 million . 14 other adverts edit in december 2012 another advert was launched this time featuring maurice wigglethorpe throom played by robert webb the founder of compare the market and his assistant spencer who find out about aleksandr who makes a cameo appearance in a photograph and compare the meerkat . meerkat movies edit in april 2015 comparethemarket.com launched meerkat movies offering customers who have purchased a qualifying product 2 for 1 cinema tickets every tuesday or wednesday for a whole year . existing customers were gifted the tickets for the remainder of their policy via a golden envelope mailer . meerkat movies takes over from orange wednesdays and is likely to be the uk s biggest cinema promotion to date . references edit compare the market . bgl group . retrieved 6 february 2012 . newman andrew 1 may 2006 . another good year for budget . insurance brokers monthly via highbeam research subscription required . retrieved 2013 01 11 . what s new . insurance brokers monthly via highbeam research subscription required . 1 september 2006 . retrieved 2013 01 12 . hunter teresa 10 september 2006 . hunt down a bargain online . scotland on sunday edinburgh scotland via highbeam research subscription required . retrieved 2013 01 12 . a b oatts joanne 14 june 2007 . channel 4 signs new drama sponsor . digital spy . retrieved 2013 01 12 . in brief comparethemarket review 20m account . . precision marketing via highbeam research subscription required . 13 october 2008 . retrieved 2013 01 12 . comparethemarket runs integrated ads across virgin radio . econsultancy . 13 march 2008 . retrieved 2013 01 12 . how passion created aleks the billionaire meerkat . digitalartsonline.co.uk . archived from the original on 25 june 2009 . retrieved 2009 08 01 . hickman martin 29 october 2010 . the simples idea that became a 10m empire . the independent . london . meerkat ads drive 400 % rise in visitors for comparison site . econsultancy . 16 april 2009 . retrieved 2013 01 12 . comparethemarket.com case study making the most of viral marketing . datamonitor summary by researchandmarkets . july 2009 . retrieved 2013 01 12 . the guardian 11 08 09 car insurance giant throws in a free meerkat for every policy sold in simples marketing ploy . daily mail . 1 july 2011 . o reilly lara 12 july 2012 . comparethemarket to sponsor corrie . marketing week . retrieved 2013 01 12 . external links edit official website meerkat movies bgl group history result and review 2009 to 2010 p11 peterborough news meerkat mania was born in peterborough compare the market australian site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title comparethemarket.com & oldid 740970295 categories internet properties established in 2006companies based in peterboroughcomparison shopping websites2006 establishments in the united kingdomhidden categories subscription required using viapages containing links to subscription only contentofficial website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create 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