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 because 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.

Creative Execution

Each participant could enter the month-long competition for the chance to win a dream vacation worth AED 30,000 by submitting their stories via the RSA Facebook-hosted app, or by using the official hashtag #RSATravelTales on their public Facebook profiles. Using organic and paid strategies, we drove awareness for the campaign, which generated over 400 stories. In terms of using social, we 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 and generated over 100 stories. Lastly, influencers boosted our engagement with like-minded individuals who fit our audience profile. In particular, we partnered with the region’s leading travel influencer, Michelle Karam of Travel Junkie Diaries, who supported our campaign through a variety of her social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

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.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Promoting insurance in the UAE is challenging, primarily because the market is over-saturated and brands are competing for a customer base that is not immediately receptive to travel insurance because they believe it’s a luxury, rather than a necessity. To address this, we developed a campaign that was underlined with a promotional incentive to garner public interest. Additionally, by linking the promotion with the concept – giving the UAE’s unluckiest traveler a dream vacation – we ensured the focus on travel insurance remained consistent. It created a noticeable shift in the public mindset and had a positive business impact.

The approach we took 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 a focus on Westerners and South Asians above the age of 30 years old. In addition to earned, owned and shared platform tactics, the promotional component of providing a dream vacation worth AED 30,000 to the person with the unluckiest travel story was a key incentive. In this way, we also linked the prize to the theme of the overall campaign.