2017 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Relating to the low penetration levels, evidence from leading experts in the travel and insurance sectors revealed that those who choose not to purchase travel insurance leave it to ‘luck’ and assume nothing would happen to them. This is due to the fact that a large number of trips abroad for UAE residents tends to involve them traveling back to their home countries, which is why they often, wrongly, assume that they are unlikely to face any incidents. This consumer sentiment of ‘luck’ provided us with the trigger to conceptualize our campaign idea - the launch of a unique creative campaign - “In Search for the UAE’s Unluckiest Traveler” – that would help transform RSA Insurance into a consumer engaging brand. We wanted to speak the language that travelers understood while allowing them to reach the desired conclusion – that travel plans have more to do with getting proper protection.

Execution

The creative concept was generated and the campaign implemented with the PR team driving this. We reached out to the widely-read dailies, lifestyle, and travel publications to share user generated content in stories focused on raising awareness about the campaign over the course of one month. User-generated stories were boosted on Facebook and shared with the media to illustrate real life events and unlucky travel stories. We collaborated with Dubai92,the leading radio station,to engage listeners through educational features about unexpected scenarios where travel insurance can come handy. We then followed it with a week-long radio competition asking them to share their unlucky travel stories. We also tied up with Ahlan!, a leading consumer magazine, asking readers to submit stories for the chance to win a $250 prize. Over one weekend, the content received over 11,100 unique views. Lastly, influencers boosted our engagement with like-minded individuals who fit our audience profile.

The campaign’s success is evident because we saw a strong impact on the company’s business with a 45% increase in sales in July 2016 and a 22. 5% increase in August 2016, as well as a 23.9 % increase in inquiries for quotes in July 2016 and a 39.1% in August 2016. There was also a 27.7% increase in page views of the RSA’s travel insurance section in July 2016 and a 57.7% in August 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. We also saw a remarkable increase of 200% in Facebook likes; 166% increase in page visits; 128% increase in engagement levels. The Unluckiest Traveler campaign reached over 450,000 people in the UAE in paid social reach alone, the highest reach ever achieved for the brand, and generated the highest volume of coverage ever generated on the back of any single campaign with USD130,000 worth of coverage.

The Situation

This campaign is the epitome of creativity as it focuses on changing perceptions by tapping into compelling cultural insights. Instead of talking at people, we have focused on speaking their language and facilitating conversations between them. By using storytelling, RSA enabled consumers to realise the importance of travel insurance and saw a positive impact on its business. The Unluckiest Traveler campaign is proof that a good idea can generate from anywhere. In our case, the creative idea was conceptualized by the PR team who led the execution from end to end.

The Strategy

The approach we have taken in our creative direction focused on bringing the concept of ‘luck’ to the fore and connecting it to the travel world. Travelers were asked to share a story of a time when they did not have travel insurance but needed it; mentioning what they had planned, their “unlucky” circumstances, and how they pulled through in the end. Our consumer demographics included the expat population with focus on Westerners and South Asians above the age of 30 years old. Our target media spanned dailies, specialty travel magazines, and broadcast media to secure multiple touch points with our target audience. Working with ourin-house planner,we developed a campaign focused on an integrated approach utilising owned, paid, earned, and shared media across multiple channels: -Traditional media relations -Paid and consumer media -Radio spots -Development of Facebook app -Social media with priority on Facebook with hashtag #RSATravelTales -Influencer Engagement