Burglaries increase over the Christmas break, a period in which insurance companies usually sell homeowners policies. Not us, we launched a useful message, through fake news: GrabMe, the app for burglars. GrabMe offered a unique and disturbing service: it geolocalized all empty homes by understanding when the owner was out (using data shared on social networks) and signalling the home as empty with a pin on the city’s map.

We spread the news in two phases: teaser and reveal. Teaser phase. On the 9 December 2015, the most dangerous time of the year for flat burglaries, we posted a video on YouTube, an exclusive interview with the hacker/inventor of GrabMe, the app designed for burglars. Users could download it from grabme.name. The source was a fake TV documentary (Rävar) on a fake Swedish network (Gtv). We decided to locate this programme in Sweden to give the hacker and the news more credibility (Sweden is Europe’s Silicon Valley) and at the same time minimize the risk of Italians recognizing the programme and network as inexistant. Everyone could see the video on Youtube, subtitled in Italian and posted by an anonymous user. The news spread quickly and aroused alarm and concern. After a few days, grabme.name was placed under seizure. Reveal phase. On 16 December 2015 we posted another video, this

The campaign achieved 100% positive sentiment and an incredible engagement in a short time: 3,674,842 impressions • 521,325 views • 8,029 social interactions • 1,479 mentions • national media and social buzz sparked a conversation about online privacy. But the most important thing is that the campaign significantly improved Generali’s profile, creating an increasingly close relationship between people and the brand.