Demon Office Chair Wreaks Havoc in New Zealand Insurance Company Ad

NZI Insurance - Devil's Chair

A reclining office chair that may have been sent from deepest, darkest bowels of hell is the star of “Devil’s Chair”, a raucous animated ad for New Zealand Insurance company NZI.

The ad created by Draft FCB New Zeland and animated by Assembly Films features the evil chair being passed from one person to another, and the mayhem that ensues when it’s unwitting owner leans back to relax. The cow pooping made me laugh out loud, but then again that’s the kind of high-brow humour I enjoy. Shit happens.

Bonus points to everyone involved for the inspired use of Ennio Morricone’s theme from the Clint Eastwood classic The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.

It all comes together at the end with the tagline “Bad’s not going anywhere. Neither are we.”

[via StopPress]

New Zealand

John Lewis Insurance Extends “Things Matter” Campaign with Vine Competition

John Lewis Insurance Vine Competition

UK Insurance company John Lewis is extending the marketing push around their first TV ad “Things Matter” (embedded below) by working with digital agency Steak and 360i London to launch a competition using the social animation app Vine. Earlier this week, it was tweeted that the mobile app can now boast over 40 million users.

Participants are asked to create a Vine of something that matters to them and post it along with the hashtag #WhatMattersMost. First prize for the winner is £1000 worth of gift vouchers, with three weekly winners awarded Canon EOS 700D Digital SLR cameras.

The app is particularly suited to capture stop-motion animation, which was used extensively in the “Things Matter” ad. The ad was created by adam&eveDDB, London and directed by Dougal Wilson for Blink Productions.

The ad features a remake of the Fleetwood Mac classic “Don’t Stop’ by Scottish singer songwriter Nina Nesbitt.

[via The Drum]

UK

Japanese Drivers Use Odometer Reading as Entry for Insurance Company Lottery

Sony Assurance Odometer Lottery

With Sony Assurance basing their auto insurance rates on the number of kilometers that their customers drive, they along with ad agency Frontage Inc. came up with a contest idea to make Japanese drivers more aware of the distance that they travel.

The Odometer Lottery was launched in August 2012 during the Bon festival, an annual tradition when Japanese make the journey back to their hometown to visit family.

To enter the contest, drivers simply took a picture of their odometer reading and uploaded it to an app on the company’s Facebook page.

Grand prize was a JTB travel gift worth 30000 yen with 50 second prizes of 2000 Amazon gift vouchers. In 3 weeks, the contest site had 14,887 visits and 546 entrants.

[via Ads of the World]

Japan

Foresters Insurance Challenges North Americans to Take Daily ‘Tech Timeout’

Forester's Tech Timeout Challenge

In a new year-long campaign launched February 5 ‘Tech Timeout‘, Life Insurance provider Foresters is challenging families (and I assume couples and individuals) to take a scheduled break from all electronic devices and spend time reconnecting with each other in more meaningful ways.

The campaign ad features people completely oblivious to other people and their surroundings, while distracted by their tech devices. The clips shows a man entering the wrong house, a girl runs into a light pole while texting, a wife pours steaming coffee into her husband’s lap, and a group of tennis players are oblivious to the game they are supposed to be playing.

The situations while outrageous, aren’t far from the truth. It’s behaviour that most of are either guilty of ourselves, or that we observe everyday.

In a press release to announce the campaign, George Mohacsi, Foresters’ President and CEO said, “Foresters purpose is to champion family well-being and we do that through quality life insurance, unique member benefits and inspiring community activities. We are always looking for innovative ways to help families spend time together and challenging them to ‘disconnect to reconnect’ is a simple way to turn our purpose into action.”

A recent Consumer Electronics Association study reported that the average US home has 24 different consumer media and communication devices, including multiple televisions, computers and smartphones and some believe the proliferation of these devices contributes to a sense of social isolation even when you’re in the same room with other people.

According to the Center for Digital Future, in 2008, 28 percent of people said that being wired has resulted in them spending less time with family members, a significant increase from the 11 percent reported in 2006.

In my opinion it’s like everything else, it’s about balance, and being aware that while technology can enable us to connect with like-minded people, friends and family on the other side of the world, it should not isolate ourselves from our relationships in the real world.

Whether you participate in Foresters’ challenge, do you think you could take a daily break from all technology devices?

USACanada

Family Bonds with ‘Sound of Music’ Sing-a-long for Dutch Auto Insurance Ad

Nationale-Nederlanden - do-re-mi

While car fires are no cause for celebration, it’s refreshing to see this family to turn a difficult situation into a fun, bonding experience for everyone. The family gleefully scoop and pass water hand-to-hand, to douse their burning minivan, all the while singing ‘Do-Re-Mi’ from The Sound of Music.

Dutch insurance company Nationale-Nederlanden is using the ad to promote a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their car insurance. If policyholders are not satisfied with how the company handles the claim, they receive 4 months of relief from premium payments.

The ad was created by JWT Amsterdam, directed by Sam Cadman for Rogue Films.

[via Amsterdam Ad Blog]

Netherlands

Smartraveller Travel Tales: Australian Woman Survives 360 Fall Foot from Broken Bungee Cord

Smarttraveller Travel Tales Competition

Australian Erin Langworthy was travelling in Africa when she and a friend decided to try bungee jumping. All was going well until her bungee cord snapped, dropping her 360 feet into the river below. The cord became stuck in the rocks and she couldn’t make it back to the surface, however she mustered the strength to free herself and saved her own life.

After the accident she was airlifted to a hospital in South Africa, where she received a call from the Australian Consulate in Canberra, who had been alerted when she didn’t arrive at her expected destination. Erin had registered her travel with Smartraveller before leaving on her trip, and had purchased full travel insurance that ensured treatment in a high-quality hospital and covered her $50,000 in medical bills.

While it may be difficult to find a story quite so dramatic as Erin’s, the Smartraveller Travel Tales Competition is looking for travel stories from Australians that benefited from the service, or others who had wished they had taken Smartraveller precautions. The submissions judged to be the best will win a share of $6000 in travel vouchers.

[via mUmBRELLA]

Australia

Swedish Insurance Company Celebrates Customer with Skydiving Cat Tribute

Folksam - Skydiving Cats

For the past few years, Folksam, a Swedish insurance company, has leveraged their Emotional Barometer application to gauge the sentiment of their policyholders and countrymen. Through a series of 20 question type activities the application creates visualizations that show what activities and opinions the Swedish people are passionate about.

A new series of ads have been created to celebrate the passions shared by it’s customers, including Eva Leijonmark who is passionate about her cat Tiger. Folksam and their ad agency Akestam Holst are celebrating Eva and Tiger by creating an ad showing a group of skydiving cats that join together to spell out her name in the sky. All to the tune of R.Kelly’s ‘I Believe I Can Fly’.

While I’m sure no cats were harmed in the making of this green-screened production, I can only imagine the damage done to the production people who dressed the cats in their little skydiving outfits.

[via Daily Picks and Flicks]

Sweden

Belgian Financial Organization Promotes Safe Internet Banking with Fake Psychic Stunt

Febelfin - Safe Internet Banking

Febelfin is an umbrella organization of the Belgian financial sector. To promote their new campaign ‘Safe Internet Banking‘ they’ve employed Dave, a medium, with what-appears-to-be very powerful ‘psychic’ abilities.

Random people were invited to appear on what they were told was a new TV show (I’m assuming the user’s were asked their names at that point). Soon Dave begins revealing things about the person that he shouldn’t possibly know, including location of tattoos, favorite vacation spots, the colour of their house, or even their credit card number.

A curtain falls and the subject can now see just how Dave knew so much. According to the agency’s web site, the stunt used top notch hackers working in real time to make people aware of the fact that their entire life can be found online.

The stunt was orchestrated by Brussels communication agency Duval Guillaume Modem.

Belgium