A billboard campaign that got people talking (and tagging), a TikTok trend we never saw coming, and a viral moment we had to make the most of. Here's the story of how a simple idea turned into a nationwide conversation.
A billboard campaign designed to stand out
Insurance ads aren’t exactly known for stopping people in their tracks. But we wanted to do things differently. Our #GetNakedAnywhere campaign set out to prove that buying insurance with Naked is so quick and easy that you can do it anytime, anywhere.
We launched with over 150 unique billboards across the country, each featuring a place or moment where someone “Got Naked” (a.k.a. bought insurance via the Naked app). From Tamryn got Naked at the hairdresser to Thabo got Naked at the traffic light, the goal was simple:
- Show how effortless it is to get insured with Naked.
- Make people do a double-take.
And it worked.
The reaction: “Wait… is that my name?”
One of the best parts of this campaign? Each billboard featured a different name. This small touch had a big impact. People loved spotting their own names (or the names of their friends and family) on billboards and digital ads.
The campaign spread naturally. People started taking photos and sharing them on social media. Some tagged their friends in our Facebook ads, others went on the hunt to find more billboards. But we had no idea what was coming next.
TikTok took over
A couple of months in, something unexpected happened: TikTok ran with our campaign.
Users started posting videos of our billboards, asking if we could feature their names next. Some simply filmed themselves driving past one, others made full-on “name request” videos. Within days, hundreds of user-generated videos were popping up, completely unprompted by us.
Then came the flood of comments. Tens of thousands of people were now asking us to put their names on billboards.
How we turned the trend into something even bigger
As much as we’d love to, we couldn’t put up 50,000 new billboards overnight. So we had to get creative.
With the help of the team at Run Jump Fly, we built 15 editable billboard templates that let us generate hyper-realistic video billboards with any name on them. Then, we did the only thing that made sense:
- We collected every name from the TikTok comments (yes, all of them).
- We created personalised billboards for 600 of the most requested names.
- We posted over 60 videos featuring these names set to iconic songs like Say My Name (Destiny’s Child) and My Name Is (Eminem).
The numbers speak for themselves
- Top two videos: 3.8M and 3.2M views (all organic, no ad spend).
- Total campaign views: Almost 20M.
- Naked TikTok followers gained in one week: 30,000.
Not bad for an insurance campaign, right?
What made this campaign work?
Looking back, here’s what we think brands (and marketers) can take away from this:
- Simplicity wins. A clear, repeatable idea makes a campaign instantly recognisable.
- Relatability beats “trying too hard.” People connect with things that feel personal, not overly polished.
- The best engagement is organic. We never asked people to participate, they wanted to.
- And finally, when social media gives you a viral moment, run with it.
Want to see more? Follow us on TikTok to check out the campaign in action.
