Direct Line established high levels of recall among consumers. In September 2014, the brand worked with Saatchi and Saatchi to relaunch its advertising, using Hollywood actor Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolfe, a Mafia style 'fixer'. The company had one million customers after eight years. The company expanded with a series of new offshoots in the 1990s. In 1995, a Spanish offshoot, Linea Direct, started offering motor insurance in Spain. They expanded into travel insurance in 1996, pet insurance in 1997, and Direct Line Breakdown started offering breakdown insurance in 1998. Their non general insurance products umbrella Direct Line Financial services launched their
Direct lobbying in the United States original position does not support theirs, which may help groups expand their supportive coalitions. When strong district ties are not present, groups tend to rely on direct lobbying with committee allies, because they assume that their political friends will be drawn to participate with the lobbyist view. In 2010, the total amount spent on lobbying in the U.S. was $3.50 billion. The top sectors for lobbying as of 2010 are financial, insurance, real estate, with $4,405,909,610 spent on lobbying. The financial, insurance, real estate sector is the largest source of campaign contributions. The sector includes insurance companies, securities and investment