AIG sets the All Blacks loose on Tokyo citizens

For a while, every insurance ad that came out seemed to be trying to move us to tears. While the first few may have been genuinely moving, the trend soon became tedious. So it’s refreshing instead to see a bunch of rugby players hurling unsuspecting civilians to the ground.

There’s a bit more to it than that. The three-minute film for AIG, ‘Tackle the Risk’, has the New Zealand All Blacks rampage across Tokyo, tackling citizens apparently at random. But it later becomes clear that the players are in fact saving these people from disaster.

A statement from TBWA Hakuhodo says the film is a reminder that risks are ever-present and that accidents happen unexpectedly. It aims to promote AIG’s ‘Active Care’ service, which launched in Japan last year. The service is positioned as being proactive in preventing risks, as opposed to simply being reactive when accidents happen.

The work was created by TBWA Hakuhodo and produced by AOI Pro. AIG extended its shirt sponsorship of the All Blacks last November for further six years. Japan is set to host the Rugby World Cup in 2019.

Campaign’s view: The film is great fun to watch, with a message that makes sense. It’s also an example of how sports sponsorships can be incorporated into communications in a light-hearted but imaginative way.