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 Line Insurance, a subsidiary of RBS Group, in 2003. Royal Bank of Scotland was forced to sell Direct Line as a result of European regulations that prevent companies receiving state aid. Direct Line floated on the London Stock Market in October 2012. The Direct Line Group owns a number of brands including Churchill Insurance, Privilege and Green Flag. The company made a number of tough financial decisions in the beginning of the 2010s, including abandoning some lines of business, making redundancies, and closing 14 of their 27 offices in the United Kingdom. In January 2012, Direct Line, along with sister company