Confused.com CMO Sam Day to leave role

Sam Day is set to leave his role as CMO at Confused.com after almost six years.

Day was brought to the price comparison business in 2018 by former owner Admiral to reverse its decline in market share and grow profits with a view to an eventual carve out sale. This was completed in May 2021 when ZPG (Zoopla Property Group) bought the company in a deal worth more than £500m.

During his tenure as CMO, Day has overhauled the brand’s marketing creative to launch its ‘Confusion to Clarity’ campaign which saw the site significantly improve its market share in the motor insurance category. His efforts in improving marketing ROI by 36% and increasing spontaneous awareness of the brand by 45% led to Confused.com winning a Silver Effie in 2020.

Confused.com’s CMO on how to get CEO buy-in for long-term brand buildingReflecting on his time at the business, Day says it has been a “fantastic adventure” and thanked the “amazing” people he worked with along the way. “I look at where we have come and I am so proud of what we have achieved. I feel like the business is in a great place for its next stage, so after six years it’s time to look for a different challenge.”

Day’s successor at Confused.com has yet to be announced.

The long and short of it

Day spoke to Marketing Week in 2021 about the challenges of engaging the CEO and CFO of the business in the value of long-term brand building. He described the discussions as “not easy” but explained that speaking about it in “rational” terms was the key to securing the backing he needed – and most importantly the time to do it effectively.

“I tried to talk to them in their language as much as possible about the level of return we could expect over what time period, sunk costs, long-term investment and then also took them through our process of development,” he told Marketing Week at the time. “Essentially, it’s about inspiring confidence that we’re in control of the process.”

Confused.com CEO Steve Dukes spoke fondly of the “fantastic” contribution Day has made to the brand and praised his energetic leadership of the marketing team.

“As we look to the future, we’re building on strong foundations of the Confused.com brand that Sam has [played] a major part in strengthening,” he added.