NRMA built a working car out of the parts its rivals did not insure.

Insurance is a grudge purchase people choose on price, and NRMA was never the cheapest. Its real difference, however, was buried in dense product disclosure statements most drivers never read.

The insight came from reading competitors' PDSs and finding that they classified hundreds of parts as 'extras' they did not cover, while NRMA covered them as standard. That is a great argument in a document and a forgettable one on a poster.

Whybin TBWA turned it physical: it built a roadworthy car from over 30,000 individual parts drawn from 52 different car models, using only the parts rivals did not insure. The public was invited to submit the uncovered parts of their own cars, pick a colour and even name the vehicle.

The car was then launched like a real model and test-driven by a well-known presenter, converting a coverage gap into a story reporters could photograph and drive.

Build the uncovered parts into a car no one can ignore

A physical object communicates a policy advantage that words cannot

Crowd-sourcing parts made drivers feel the gap personally

It gave a grudge category a genuinely fun, shareable moment

It let a premium-priced insurer justify its price without discounting

When your advantage is a list of exclusions buried in a policy, do not argue it in copy — assemble the exclusions into something the reader can see and touch.

The campaign generated around 1.3 million enquiries in the first seven weeks, and a later tally put it in the millions with a reported conversion rate around 30% and 129% ROI. It won the Grand Effie at the Australian Effies in 2013 and multiple direct-marketing awards.