Title	BIRTHUAL REALITY
Brand	GJENSIDIGE INSURANCE
Product/Service	GJENSIDIGE CHILD INSURANCE
Category	C07. Use of Technology
Entrant	FLB EUROPA Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation	FLB EUROPA Stockholm, SWEDEN
PR	FLB EUROPA Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production	GOOD TIMES STUDIO STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Lina Sennerdal Kolacz	Gjensidige Insurance	Creative Director
Johanna Gustafsson	Gjensidige Insurance	Senior Copywriter
Linnéa Hagström	FLB Europa	Strategic Project Manager
Siri von Zeipel Vincent	FLB Europa	Strategic Project Manager
Linnea Nordström	FLB Europa	PR-specialist
Björn Lundevall	FLB Europa	Creative Director
Björn Lundvall	FLB Europa	PR-specialist
Marcus Hellman	Good Times Studio
Joakim Näzell	Good Times Studio
Niclas Amin	Good Times Studio
Viktor Skogqvist	Good Times Studio

Why is this work relevant for PR?

This work encapsulates Public Relations both as a way to build awareness and trust via the authority figures most trusted by the audience, as well as PR as generating large scale publicity to create awareness more widely. The first step was to identify what expectant parents need most: good information on the birth itself. This information is given by Swedish maternity care clinics, but it’s old and outdated. So step two was to help these clinics (all of them) by offering much needed innovative solution to prepare for childbirth. A story we then could pitch to media worldwide.

Background

A small insurance company in Sweden, with low awareness and with a marketing budget far from those commanded by the major competitors got voted the best child insurance in Sweden by the Swedish Consumers’ Insurance Bureau in 2017. Knowing that parents rarely change insurance providers they wanted to take this opportunity to communicate wider in order to: - Raise brand awareness among parents & expectant parents - Increase brand liking - Increase sales of the child insurance

Describe the creative idea

Many expectant parents are nervous and find it difficult to prepare for childbirth. No matter how much you read on the subject beforehand, it’s difficult to understand what childbirth is really like before you've experienced it yourself. With Birthual Reality we created the world’s first birth- preparatory film in VR and gave expectant parents a new way to prepare. VR technology made it possible to create a feeling of being in the room during an actual delivery – allowing expectant parents to experience everything at close hand. The film differs significantly from the existing materials today used to prepare expectant parents.

Describe the strategy

Knowing that parents rarely change insurance providers, we chose to focus on first-time parents. Many of whom are nervous and unsure on what to expect of childbirth since it’s difficult to understand what childbirth is really like before experiencing it yourself. In order to reach them, we wanted to engage midwifes and media that are already talking to and educating expectant parents. With the help of our unique VR-experience we wanted to create something interesting for media and helpful for midwifes all over Sweden. We aimed to get coverage in some of Swedens biggest media within TV, radio and newspapers, using international media to increase the credibility. VR kits were sent to the majority of maternity clinics and hospitals across Sweden to give them an opportunity to include the material in their daily pre-natal activities.

Describe the execution

Our ambition with the tactical media outreach was to secure coverage in some of Swedens biggest media outlets. In order to do so we a few days before launch contacted selected media within TV, radio and newspapers offering them to take part of the material before the broad media outreach. At launch (31st of may) we sent VR kits to the majority of maternity clinics and hospitals across Sweden to give them an opportunity to include the material in their daily pre-natal activities. At the same time we contacted additional Swedish journalist with targeted and personalized email pitches containing press release as well as an offer to ship VR glasses. Then we started contacting media internationally with the aim to earn even more credibility. Thanks to this we could keep the buzz going longer by approaching Swedish media again, telling them how Birthual Reality spread worldwide.

List the results

The project has been showcased in several of Sweden’s largest media outlets and earned media coverage in Sweden reached over half of the Swedish population. Internationally, the project has been highlighted by, amongst others, French Le Monde and American CNET, and hundreds of articles have given rise to over 200 million media impressions. The assisted brand awareness is 23% but within the group who have children/are currently pregnant that has now reached 31%. Compared with the same period last year, the sales of the child insurances increased by 25%. Several Swedish hospitals confirm that they are using the film for educational purposes in their parent groups today. An outcome that cannot be purchased regardless of the size of your marketing budget.