The Campaign

To launch the new PruCancerX plan, we decided to show young Malaysians how helpful superstition was in covering them from cancer, i.e. not at all. So, we created a fake brand that promoted superstition and in doing so, made it the enemy. Under the label ‘Unsuay’ (anti-bad-luck), we designed a touch-friendly block of wood, a ‘Choi’ pin and a bad luck swatter. We promoted the Unsuay collection like real items on social media pages. Then, we flipped the script, revealing the true message: superstition can’t cover you. PRUcancer X is the only real cover from cancer.

Creative Execution

We created a fictitious, sleek lifestyle brand on social media called Unsuay that they could ‘buy’. Unsuay released a collection of products that claimed to undo the ‘suayness’ (bad luck) of cancer. We created two brand pages on social media and pushed out three realistic online shopping ads each featuring an Unsuay product. Further, we produced three YouTube bumper ads showcasing our Unsuay products in all their glory. We also developed two brand films introducing the founder of Unsuay and released a series of GIF and carousel ads on social media to build hype and talkability. Clicking these ads led audiences to landing pages revealing that PruCancerX, not superstition, could effectively provide the coverage.

Results

Some Malaysians applauded the twist in our ads and thought the campaign was a “creative way to sell insurance”. One even commented, “this is one of the best ads I’ve seen in Malaysia.” Our unconventional and risky approach in this campaign caught media attention in Malaysia. The UnSuay products received 80% positive sentiment on social media. We received requests to buy the UnSuay products. The brilliant plot twists in the “making-of product” video clips captured the attention of Malaysians, peaking at 6.1 million views with a 70% completion rate. And when we revealed that Prudential is behind this campaign, we obtained an incredible 47% engagement rate with our social media ads. Our campaign has appeared in more than 10 publications within the first week of launch and this secured us approximately RM190,515 worth of earned PR value.

In addition to being suspicious of insurance brands in general, Malaysians have since grown resistant to the overly emotional and tear-jerking tonality of insurance ads. We wanted to have a real serious conversation about cancer with this generation of millennials on digital, even if that means we have to use the most irreverent tools in the box. So, in this campaign we dropped the ‘insurance speak’ and opted for a bit of humour to break the ice and elicit a real response from our target audience on social media.

Malaysia’s social-cultural sensibilities do not encourage a candid and frank discussion of the consequences and possibility of life with critical illness. This silence and passive-avoidant attitude is the enemy that we want to eradicate. Thus, we chose the bold and irreverent messaging of “Superstitions can’t cover you” to front the launch of PruCancer. It is delivered in a cheeky parody style to elicit laughter, reactions and even criticisms from our young audience. This platform allows us to address the problem head-on. The idea was to take the superstitions to its extreme version, in a humorous way. Besides, the best way to break the ice is to crack a joke. Through a series of parody products and digital ads, we sparked a lighthearted but compelling conversation about cancer, which was the most important goal for the launch campaign.