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But it was a different story in 1797, when wine merchant and banker Thomas Bignold found no one was willing to insure him against the many highwaymen that lay in wait on the roads at the time.

As a result, Bignold founded Norwich Union, which, as well as highway robbery insurance, also offered cover against fire. More than 200 years later, that company is now Aviva. Not only the UK’s largest insurer, it also offers savings and investment products, and has more than 31 million customers worldwide.

Loyalty beyond price

Unlike many of its competitors in the insurance sphere, Aviva does not appear on any price comparison sites. According to its head of marketing, Neil Costello (pictured above), this is a deliberate move to drive customer engagement beyond price.

“You have to give consumers a proposition over and above what they would expect to see on those sites, to make sure that the loyalty sticks, ” Costello says.

This could be added product extras that ...