Beyond the Brief: Howatson+Company on Crafting an Insurance Ad That Soars – to Avril Lavigne

In this edition of Beyond the Brief, Campaign Brief sits down with Howatson+Company senior creatives Jack Close and Zak Hawkins to unpack the thinking and craft behind ‘Care You Can Count On’, the cinematic new brand platform launched last month for Allianz Australia. From turning an eagle into a symbol of empathy, to working with director Michael Gracey and choosing an unexpected but iconic Avril Lavigne track to carry the emotion, Close and Hawkins share how the team reimagined what an insurance campaign could be.

What was the original brief from Allianz, and how did the idea for ‘Care You Can Count On’ begin to take shape?

The brief from Allianz was to create a brand platform that brings to life the incredible culture of care that runs through their entire business.

What stood out to us while being briefed was that act after act, in personal lives, on the front line and to each other, Allianz people really care. In the most uncertain insurance moments, it’s this care that provides Australians clarity and confidence.

But if we were going to break away from the conventions of the insurance category, we knew the work couldn’t just show or talk about care — people really needed to feel care you can count on. That’s how we landed on a film spotlighting human adversity that heroes no humans at all.

Insurance brands often have to juggle emotional storytelling with practical expectations – how did you find the right balance here?

Often practical expectations are predicated by practical ideas, but Allianz had the smarts to recognise that a different shaped idea presented an opportunity to lean into emotion. By using whimsical metaphor instead of human-based accidents and disasters, the brand could express itself freely, without being hamstrung by the constraints of the insurance category.

Why a finch and an eagle? What did those animals represent creatively and emotionally for the brand?

In the early stages, we had a story of a bird that represented all of us (small, vulnerable and uncertain) trying to protect its egg, only for another bird of the same species to come to the rescue. Initially we didn’t know how it rescued the first bird, but we knew that there was already emotion to the narrative. Then we realised Allianz’ core identity is an eagle, and we thought, bingo, there’s the twist. Turning a predator into a symbol of protection and care. Next came the fun part — how would an Eagle caringly rescue a finch in a storm? By rising up right under it to the sound of Avril Lavigne, of course.

When did the decision come about to use CGI for the film? Did this choice reflect any bigger trends you’re seeing in the industry right now?

From the outset, we knew elevated CGI meant we’d be able to achieve a degree of realism and connection to the Allianz brand aesthetic, while still being able to drive emotion. Michael Gracey (director) shared the vision that maintaining a level of realism would enhance the way the audience related to and empathised with the characters. Culture is rife with films that use animals to convey emotion in the most powerful way. Live action animation like Disney’s Jungle Book and Lion King use subtle changes in eyes, body language and sounds to turn predators into beings with emotion and humanity. The only way to do this effectively was CGI.

Are there any subtle details or creative ideas in the film that you think viewers might not immediately notice but are important to the story?

No — and that’s kind of on purpose. If an ad isn’t simple and clear, we’re doing a disservice to the client and even worse, the audience.

With no dialogue in the film, how did you make sure the audience’s emotions were guided through visuals and sound?

Everything had to work harder. The music carries huge emotional weight, the pacing builds tension and release, and the character animation does all the heavy lifting that dialogue usually handles. Hats off to FINCH, Alt.vfx, Mosaic Music and Sound, and Trailer Media for nailing this.

Michael Gracey is a big name, what made him the right fit for this campaign, and how did his vision elevate the story?

Michael gets character-driven storytelling. From our first meeting, he understood we weren’t just making an insurance ad – we were creating a relationship between two characters that had to feel real. His background in music and animation gave him this incredible ability to find the emotional truth in every scene, even with CGI birds.

The film features Avril Lavigne’s ‘I’m With You’. How early did that track come into the conversation, and did it shape the creative direction?

We actually first presented the script with Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, using the chaotic bridge and chorus for maximum tension. Once we got a timed storyboard through, we started exploring other tracks that matched the arc of the story more naturally.

It wasn’t until the animatic stage we realised that the best song couldn’t just be emotional, it needed nostalgia to resonate with Allianz’s core millennial audience. Something that everyone knows but hadn’t heard in a while. We knew 90s/00s was the sweet spot, but after trying hundreds of different tunes, once we put Avril to the edit all other options fell away. It had a magic to it. Hit in all the right places editorially, and emotionally. And it’s wonderful to see that audience feels the same way. Avril’s I’m with you is now trending at #2 on the Shazam charts.

What do you hope people take away from this campaign about Allianz and their promise of ‘Care You Can Count On’?

Most importantly, we hope people get a sense of what the humans behind Allianz Australia are really like: people who care. But we hope that they see the craft and care of the storytelling as a signal, too.

Client: Allianz Australia
CMO, General Manager, Customer Strategy and Marketing: Laura Halbert
Head of Brand & Sponsorships: Gemma Cadwallader
Head of Strategy, Research & Design: Simon Edwards
Senior Manager Brand: Rebekah Eltringham

Agency: Howatson+Company
CEO: Chris Howatson
Group Managing Director: Renee Hyde
Chief Creative Officer: Gavin Chimes
Creative Director: Jared Wicker
Senior Creative Team: Zak Hawkins & Jack Close
Senior Creative: Megan Egan
Group Business Director: Liz Stephens
Business Director: Georgia Price/Lucy Stock
Senior Producer: Caitlin Perz
Design Director: Reece Lawson
Studio Lead: Simon Merrifield

Retouching: Chris Hall

Agency: Wavemaker
Head of Strategy, Sydney: Marco Del Castillo
Client Partner: Laura Brady
Implementation & Activation Director: Isabella White

Production Company: FINCH
Director: Michael Gracey
Executive Producer: Loren Bradley
Producer: Vivienne Jaspers
Director of Photography: Jeremy Rouse
Editorial: The Editors
Editor: Patrick Correll
VFX & Post Production: ALT VFX
VFX Supervisor: Col Renshaw
VFX Senior Producer: Celeste Fairlie
Sound: Mosaic Sound & Music
Head of Creative: Adam Moses
EP: William Doig
Sound Engineer: Michael Thomas
Music Supervision: Anton Trailer, Trailer Media