Case study · 2021 · Dubai, UAE
The Baggage Claim Challenge.
Global Village Dubai and Etihad Airways put a real seven-figure air-miles prize on the line. 5th Consulting underwrote the jackpot, engineered the lock, and filmed the delivery — so the brands kept the story and we kept the risk.
Original film produced by 5th Consulting DMCC, 2021.
The brief
Global Village and Etihad wanted a headline mechanic that would pull audiences back to the site week after week and give them a real, credible shot at a seven-figure prize. The commercial question was familiar to us: how do you promise 1,000,000 air miles and AED 50,000 in cash without holding that liability on the client's balance sheet?
Our role
We wrote the jackpot into a Prize Coverage™ policy for a fixed fee — one predictable line in the marketing P&L, no matter what the vault dial did on the final night. In parallel, our team designed a bespoke, tamper-proof locking mechanism for the prize case and filmed the lock's delivery from workshop to Global Village end-to-end. Every stakeholder — brand, venue, and public — could see the game was clean.
The mechanic
Over four weeks, visitors to Global Village selected five numbers each week at the Baggage Claim Challenge stand. Every week another digit of the winning code was revealed, tightening the odds and giving audiences a fresh reason to return. If the full code was entered, the vault opened and the prize was paid — all of it, on the spot, from our balance sheet.
The result
Etihad and Global Village put a real 1,000,000-mile prize in front of the public with total narrative control and a fixed cost. 5th Consulting carried the risk. The brands carried the story — and the film sits in our showreel to this day.
Gallery
"The game is yours. The risk is ours."