To engage people, Zurich Insurance got people to think about protecting something no one usually protects.

Our multichannel call to action ‘Get your snowman saved at (url)’ took people to a microsite. Here, they were asked to send in a photo of their snowman and tell us why he should be saved. If you had no snow, you could still take part by making a virtual snowman using our Snowman Generator. Zurich also sent out snowman kits to get more built. We asked people to vote, comment and share to decide which ones would be saved.

The winners were taken up to a special event in the Swiss Alps. The winning families said goodbye to their snowmen here before they were taken 12000 feet up where they could live forever.

Thousands of snowmen were entered. The resulting rescue video was widely seen online and even inspired people to start their own rescues.

Zurich Insurance’s brand platform is ‘For Those Who Truly Love’. To demonstrate this, we decided to protect something that kids love but that no one thinks to protect.

The campaign was executed as planned from December 2014, in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, UK. We ran posters, live stunts, online videos, banners, mobile ads, Facebook posts with the call to action ‘Get Your Snowman Saved at (url).’

On the microsite until February 2015, people sent in their snowmen, voted, commented and shared, so we could see which snowmen were most loved.

In March 2015, 15 were brought to a Snowman Village in the Alps. Winning families said goodbye before we took their snowmen 12,000 feet up.

The rescue film was seen on Youtube, Facebook and even inspired people to make their own rescues.

People experienced Zurich delivering its promise. And with their participation, Zurich demonstrated they would go further to protect what people love.

Zurich Insurance’s aim was to change the perception of the brand. To make people engage with an emotional story and demonstrate it would go further to protect what people love.

The call to action led to 2000 people entering their snowmen on our microsite. 300% of expected participation. People liked, commented and shared. 15 snowman were rescued. We held a big event in the Alps where we took the winning families and hundreds more attended. The snowmen were taken 12,000 feet up.

500,000 people visited the microsite. The online rescue film was seen 16,218,886 times. Total campaign reach: 153.8 million. Overall digital impressions: 149,249,041. Overall digital click through rates: 1.69% (EU industry standard 0.11%).

The campaign was written about all over the world, and even inspired people to do their own rescues.

Did it change perceptions of Zurich as a cold, unemotional brand? We certainly think it made a start.