Trapped Horror Film Promoting Income Insurance | Clapboard Ad Archive

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TRAPPED

In May 2023, Income Insurance Limited launched an innovative and bold campaign titled 'TRAPPED,' created by BBH Singapore, designed to underscore the critical importance of enhanced Covid-19 coverage within travel insurance. This 18-minute horror film, directed and scripted by renowned Singaporean filmmaker Kelvin Tong, famous for his work on Eating Air and The Maid, narrates a chilling story of a couple dealing with the frightening consequences of traveling without adequate Covid-19 protection. The film vividly portrays how contracting Covid-19 abroad can turn a travel experience into a nightmare, reinforcing Income Insurance’s new offer of Enhanced Covid-19 coverage for overseas transport and accommodation expenses. Embracing the shift in audience behavior towards content consumption and ad avoidance, Income Insurance chose this storytelling approach to engage its audience meaningfully, delivering both entertainment and education. The campaign’s spine-tingling atmosphere was heightened by Joe Ng, an expert music composer with over 20 years of experience in horror film scoring, who crafted the suspenseful soundscape that amplifies the film’s tense and frightening moments. Leading up to the film’s premiere, a 30-second trailer circulated across digital and social media platforms, as well as on a dedicated microsite, achieving impressive reach with over 1.8 million impressions, 370,600 views, and 34,200 engagements across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok within just 12 days. The full film is now available on YouTube, StarHub TV+ streaming service, other film platforms, and the campaign microsite for convenient viewing. To deepen consumer engagement, Income Insurance partnered with The Escape Artist to develop an immersive escape room experience that extends the film’s narrative into a real-world adventure, launching in June 2023. This campaign marks Income Insurance’s strategic evolution from traditional advertising to content-driven engagement, combining strong product focus with creative storytelling to drive business growth in a recovering travel insurance market. Supported by BBH Singapore’s lead creative efforts, alongside digital and loyalty support from Digitas and Epsilon under the Publicis Groupe umbrella, 'TRAPPED' stands as a powerful example of innovative marketing in the finance and insurance sectors.

Credits

Client

Income Insurance

Agency

BBH Singapore

Production House

Boku Films

Film Director

Kelvin Tong

Media Agency

OMD Singapore

Category Mind Map

48%

Income Insurance’s 'TRAPPED' campaign positions the brand as a proactive insurer offering enhanced Covid-19 travel coverage designed to address emerging risks in post-pandemic travel. By highlighting the potential worst-case scenario of falling ill overseas without adequate Covid-19 insurance, the campaign underscores the importance of comprehensive travel protection, promising consumers peace of mind amid unpredictable health risks while traveling. Strategically, the campaign taps into shifting consumer media habits by adopting a content-first approach, moving away from traditional advertising to engage audiences through immersive storytelling. Leveraging the expertise of renowned Singaporean horror filmmaker Kelvin Tong and seasoned horror composer Joe Ng, the 18-minute horror film employs genre conventions to create a narrative that emotionally resonates with viewers while subtly embedding Income’s Enhanced Covid-19 coverage message. The creative angle—combining horror entertainment with practical insurance advice—addresses ad fatigue and content avoidance behavior by delivering relevant information through an engaging, cinematic experience. Digital engagement metrics affirm the approach’s efficacy, with significant views and interactions across major social platforms shortly after launch. Furthermore, the campaign extends beyond the screen with a thematic escape room collaboration, enabling consumers to physically engage with the narrative and deepen brand connection. This integration of digital and experiential marketing reflects a broader market strategy to differentiate Income Insurance within the competitive finance and insurance sector by innovating around product communication and consumer experience. Overall, the campaign aligns product relevance with contemporary content consumption trends, aiming to drive growth and reinforce Income Insurance’s market leadership amid evolving consumer expectations.

FORMAT#12 PARODY OR BORROWED FORMAT — Uses or parodies pop culture formats like films, shows, or genres. This campaign unmistakably adopts the "Parody or Borrowed Format" approach by constructing its brand message as an 18-minute horror film, crafted by an acclaimed horror director and supported by genre-specific music. The entire creative hinges on explicitly borrowing the aesthetic and tropes of classic horror cinema—leveraging suspense, a nightmarish travel scenario, and the emotional beats of the genre—to dramatize the peril of travelling without adequate Covid-19 insurance. The film is positioned and promoted as genuine entertainment content, immersing viewers in a suspenseful, cinematic universe before connecting the dramatic predicament back to the product's unique benefit. This deliberate use of long-form horror storytelling defines the campaign’s creative device as a borrowed genre rather than a literal story-arc advertisement, testimonial, or symbolic exaggeration. ADVERTISING FORMATS EXPLAINED: https://www.clapboard.com/blog/branding-and-advertising/brand-strategy/12-advertising-creative-formats

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