2014 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

UCA is a leading insurance company, with its success driven by a solid corporate leg including Marine and Fire insurance programs. When the company briefed the Agency on its desire to further promote its Motor insurance leg without over-spending on ATL communication, we decided to approach the task from a fresh and unconventional approach, as detailed below.

Creative Execution

We manufactured 400 dummy magnetic keys, and distributed them onto the locks of a number of parked cars in and around Beirut. We then waited, watched and filmed from a distance as the cars’ unsuspecting owners returned, panicked, and believed they’d made a lucky escape before realizing the key was not their own. The keys were all emblazoned with the words ‘Whatever happens…’ along with the name and logo of the client, and contacts. The conjecture is that when it comes to car insurance we only think about it when it’s too late—but the activation gave people that second chance.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Our objective was for the campaign to resonate in a country such as Lebanon where attitudes towards car insurance are negligent—despite the rate of car thefts, as well as car ransoms (!), being on an upward curve. Using this insight, we thought of a prank-style activation to promote the product which would exploit an experience that many car owners have faced: encountering our car, with the keys left in the lock, and the heightened, momentary feeling of panic that ensues.

Results

In a very short time, the stunt generated immediate attention primarily driven by word of mouth initiated by the prank's "victims". Indeed, and within a few days, UCA started receiving calls from people desiring to learn more about the service and booking appointments with the designated UCA representatives. This translated ultimately into a +20% increase in the inquiries made for the service during and immediately after the stunt was done (vs. Results achieved during the same period last year), being a clear testament of the initiative's effectiveness.