In a bold new move, Income Insurance recently unveiled its new feature of Enhanced Covid-19 coverage for its travel insurance with an 18-minute horror film created by BBH Singapore.
Pioneering Singaporean horror film director Kelvin Tong, known for Eating Air and horror hit The Maid, directed and scripted ‘TRAPPED’, a thrilling 18-minute horror story about the worst possible outcome of travelling without adequate Covid-19 insurance coverage.
Through the film, Income Insurance is highlighting the importance of going with a plan that has Enhanced Covid-19 coverage, making the point that getting Covid while travelling can still be an unpleasant experience.
To learn more about this fasinating film, we spoke to Nico Tangara, Senior Art Director at BBH SIngapore.
What was the brief?
Income Insurance was launching a travel insurance plan with Enhanced COVID-19 coverage. But Singaporeans had become numb to the risks of COVID-19, and how much of a hassle it could be to catch COVID-19 while on holiday. We needed a new way to dramatise the problem. Something that could capture the imagination of Singaporean travellers.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
The concept was drawn from the honest moment of panic a few of us remember feeling when we realised we had caught COVID-19 while travelling. Despite being vaccinated, it’s always a little horrifying to realise your plans have been derailed. We decided to build a story, and then an entire campaign around that brief moment of terror.
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
From the get-go, we knew we wanted to create a piece of entertainment that could intrigue people about a travel insurance product. We also wanted to showcase the real challenges travellers still faced with regard to COVID-19, which naturally contextualised our Income Insurance’s travel insurance product as the ideal solution.
We explored many different approaches, but a horror film stood out as the most exciting, most provocative, and most compelling, both to ourselves and to our clients - who challenged us to come back with a genuinely terrifying horror story.
What was the production process like?
Once we had sold the idea of a horror film, we pitched a number of story ideas to the clients. Many of these were based on real travel experiences. The initial feedback was really positive, but to take things to the next level we enlisted renowned Singaporean horror film director, Kelvin Tong, to write and direct the short film.
Kelvin is legendary in the region for cult horror movie The Maid (2005), and has a number of his films on Netflix. Kelvin worked closely with prolific film score composer, Joe Ng, who encapsulated the suspense of a psychological thriller through ambient music. This was a drastic move away from traditional ‘epic’ music you might expect of horror films, chosen to establish tension from the outset and throughout the film.
What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?
Making a truly terrifying horror film is never easy, and making a truly terrifying horror film for an insurance brand is even harder. To stay true to the brand, we avoided common horror tropes like gore and violence and instead focused on the psychological aspects of horror.
The skilful Zhiny Ooi, who plays Sarah (main character), did several double takes of scenes to portray the ghostly apparitions that took place in the character’s mind.
What kit/tools/software were used to create the project?
To achieve the desired result, i.e. a fully-fledged horror film on par with what you would see in a cinema, we used industry-grade software such as Adobe Creative Suite for production and post-production. For some key props, we utilised the generative AI program MidJourney to create a bespoke look for the horror film using the latest image-generating software.
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
We discovered that a key part of casting for a horror film was to find actors who were great at screaming. It was a pretty intense morning going through the ‘scream’ audition clips. Oh, and one of us got locked in the toilet of an old, run-down hotel. A claustrophobe’s worst nightmare!
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
Getting COVID-19 while you’re on holiday is still a nightmare. Although we’re all familiar with the risks of catching COVID-19 in our day-to-day lives, contracting it overseas is a very different issue.
The medical and financial implications pose a real threat depending on the country you’re travelling to, so it’s really important that travellers understand how this can flip even the best trip on its head, and appreciate that investing in a robust insurance policy before going abroad can make all the difference.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
From the time we had approval on the concept from the client, the team had 47 days before the shoot days on location, and then an additional 2 weeks for editing and post-production.
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
We hope that TRAPPED dramatises our message in a truly entertaining and unexpected way that will stick with travellers - even if it means we spook them a little. We want to put Income Insurance at the forefront of people’s minds when they take out their next travel insurance policy.
Credit list for the work
Agency: BBH Singapore
Film Production Company: Boku Films
Film Director: Kelvin Tong
Media agency: OMD Singapore
INCOME INSURANCE
Income Insurance Marketing Team
Income Insurance Digital Growth Team
