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How do you build on a campaign that’s already resonating with audiences? For Born and Raised and NJM Insurance Group, the answer wasn’t to make the Insuranoia campaign bigger for the sake of spectacle. It was to dig deeper into the relatable anxieties that inspired the campaign in the first place, creating two new spots that take everyday insurance fears to even more absurd, yet surprisingly believable, extremes.
Launched August 3, the newest additions to the Insuranoia campaign turn everyday anxieties into cinematic comedies, following two people whose fear of dealing with their insurance company inspires solutions that are wildly impractical, surprisingly believable, and unmistakably human.
“The challenge wasn’t finding bigger ideas – it was finding ideas that still felt like something a real person might actually convince themselves to do,” said Scott Cirlin, Creative Director at Born and Raised. “The more seriously we treated these ridiculous behaviors, the funnier yet incredibly relatable they became.”
In “Spotlight,” one homeowner transforms her property into what amounts to a private sun, flooding the neighborhood with enough security lighting to blind neighbors, confuse wildlife and turn midnight into midday – all in an effort to prevent anything from ever happening to her home.
Meanwhile, “Flatbed” follows a devoted Mustang owner who refuses to let his car touch the pavement, opting instead to tow it everywhere on a flatbed truck. An outing becomes an elaborate production because the possibility of filing an insurance claim feels worse than the inconvenience. Music plays a starring role in this spot, featuring Michelle Branch’s early-2000s hit “Everywhere” to underscore the absurd romance between one man and his perfectly protected convertible, adding an extra layer of charm and nostalgia.
Rather than relying on visual effects alone, the production for both spots embraced practical filmmaking whenever possible. “Flatbed” was shot almost entirely in-camera, with the Mustang riding an actual flatbed through Los Angeles streets. “Spotlight,” filmed on Universal Studios’ iconic Wisteria Lane backlot, combined large-scale practical lighting with visual effects to create a neighborhood that’s almost comically over-illuminated. Even the raccoon reacting to the floodlights was a real trained performer named Zoe who quickly became one of the production’s unexpected stars.
Directed by Dave Laden of Hungry Man, this new work launched August 3 across television, streaming, radio, digital, paid social, outdoor and additional media placements throughout NJM’s footprint, continuing to build one of the insurance category’s most distinctive creative platforms.