
Car creation
NRMA
Issue 23 | June 2012
Agency
Whybin\TBWA\Tequila
Creative Team
Executive Creative Directors: Dave Bowman, Matty Burton; Creative Director: Gavin McLeod; Creative Group Heads: Asheen Naidu, Dave Brady; Art Director: Hannes Ciatti; Copywriter: Tammy Keegan; Digital Art Director: Craig Brooks; Digital Copywriter: Dean Hamilton
Production Team
Directors: Matt Devine, James Dive; Production Company: Will O'Rourke; Sound: Nylon Studios
Other Credits
CEO: Paul Bradbury; Account Team: Peter Fitzhardinge, Bridget Cleary, Bryony Marks; Client: Michael Waymouth
Date
Feb, March 2012
Background
Insurance is a grudge purchase which many people choose purely on price. NRMA, however, was not a cheap option, nor was it ever going to be. The company believed the quality of the cover they offered would be compromised by discounting its price.
They needed to find a compelling way of communicating a strategy of 'you get what you pay for'.
The campaign insight was in discovering that most Australians did not realise there were literally hundreds of parts in their cars that other insurers considered to be 'extras', and didn't actually cover.
NRMA was the only insurer that automatically covered all these parts.
Idea
To demonstrate the sheer number of parts other insurers didn't cover, an entire car was built from from them.
A fully integrated campaign launched the idea, showing all the parts that weren't covered. People were then invited to discover which parts of their own cars weren't covered by their current insurer and to submit them to help create the car. They could also submit designs, colours and even name the vehicle.
Once the car was built, it was promoted as if it was a new car launch and made the star of the ongoing campaign.
They motoring press was invited to test-drive it and it was taken on a road show round the country to all NRMA branches. It became their iconic reminder of the superior cover NRMA offered.
Results
NRMA operates in the state of New South Wales, where the total car insurance market was 4.8 million, based on the number of registered cars. In the first 7 weeks, the campaign generated 1,315,697 enquiries via phone, branches and website visits. The quality of enquiries was outstanding with a conversion rate of 30%.
Our Thoughts
Coincidentally, here's another people-building-car campaign for an auto insurance company. Cobbled together Frankenstein style, this fun, provocative idea provides a wonderful unifying visual, a cheeky, engaging personality, and enormous portable PR possibilities.