Research showed that no one likes to think about travel insurance because they perceive that it makes holiday planning more stressful. But it’s ironically very important, since 80% of Singaporeans have experienced travel mishaps.

How can we get disinterested consumers to engage with our campaign? Our challenge is amplified given our comms is from the government, which makes it more likely to be ignored, as audiences perceive the government as “naggers”.

Our first objective was to generate buzz and visibility for our campaign message through impactful content that would encourage organic shares above our paid exposure. Next, we wanted to drive interest in our message through meaningful engagements. Finally, raise consideration amongst our target audience to find out more about how they can keep themselves protected through STB’s website.

This film is re-cut from 1990s Justice Bao TV footage, and re-dubbed in Singaporean English:

We open in a tense Chinese courtroom scene presided by Justice Bao. An old Chinese man, about to be sentenced to death, pleads to Justice Bao. The old man's dubbed voice says, "Justice Bao, I think Ah Seng bought travel insurance!" Camera pans to Justice Bao, who grunts. Camera pans again to "Ah Seng", a defendant. Ah Seng feigns innocence and says to old man, "Ehhh... I thought you said no need!"

By now, Justice Bao has had enough of their bullshit, and his dubbed voice screams, "YOU THINK, I THOUGHT, WHO CONFIRM!?"

The film ends with supers reminding the viewer to be sure when it comes to buying travel insurance.

To evoke nostalgia and achieve high impact, we knew we had to use original Justice Bao TV footage. We worked for weeks to negotiate with Chinese Television System (CTS) for the rights.

Upon successful negotiation, we hunted for suitable footage. Instead of merely re-cutting footage, we reimagined the courtroom scenes by hilariously re-dubbing the dialogue in Singaporean English.

Each video depicted a different unpleasant situation that travellers might face when they are unprotected by travel insurance. Justice Bao would retort sarcastically at their flippant attitude with the “You Think, I Thought, Who Confirm!?” catchphrase.

The content was unexpectedly humorous because it took original scenes out of context, and turned serious drama into comedy.

With its high shareability, we launched the videos on Facebook, the most used social platform in Singapore, then retargeted audiences with a Facebook Canvas that educated them with actionable tips and advice.