Background

With COVID-19 and its unavoidable impact on normal life, Australians found countless ways to entertain themselves while locked indoors; from indoor hobbies to puzzles and board games. As board game sales started to spike, NRMA Insurance saw an opportunity shift from a low involvement category and get into the hands of consumers at a time when they are turning the television off, and turning to their families and loved ones. The brief required us to leverage growing market trends and COVID behavioural changes to break through typical Christmas advertising clutter with an engaging, human-centred idea. The objective was simple; showcase and inform consumers of the importance of insurance in Australia in a way that leverages changing consumer behaviour in a relevant and unexpected manner. A limited production budget of $1M to produce both 30,000 games and the digital campaign to support it.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

HELP! the game. A board game sold in the country’s largest retailers at Christmas that lets people experience real-life risks without actually having to risk anything. Designed in partnership with leading game designers and insurance experts, HELP! makes confusing lawyer-jargon fun and mimics the real-risks of living down under. With every roll of the dice, players can either protect their assets with giant domes (insurance) or risk losing them to everything from bushfires to snakes to storms, cyclones, sharks and burglars.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

Design for HELP! The Game starts with the game board, representing four landscapes unique to Australia; bushland, urban city, beachfront and the tropics. The closer you look at each landscape the more you will discover - from burglars doubling as removalists to the NRMA Helicopter. Six characters were designed to represent Australia’s diversity and like any well-known board game a mixture of cardboard, paper and plastic was used for the game pieces. Australia’s real life risks are seen in 3D on the outside of the box with a fit for category scene surrounding the HELP! exclamation mark and domed house game piece – a unique design element used throughout the campaign representing the act of protection. Paper materials were used throughout the campaign, created by hand and shot in studio. Each scene, sign or starburst was created by hand by paper artist Benja Harney.

List the results (20% of vote)

Over the holiday period, HELP! The Game secured 12% of the Australian board game market share. By integrating awareness and sales activity across campaign communications, HELP! The Game not only sold well, but increased brand consideration by 32%.