Insurers play the fitness card

ICICI Lombard and Cigna TTK tap into the growing desire for wellness among consumers as they look to build brand loyalty

The ad has been playing regularly across multiple channels, the past couple of weeks. It is difficult to miss for its rather odd depiction of a middle-aged Indian man huffing and puffing his way through a snowy mountainside. Snow in India is as rare as the sun in a rain forest. But that is not the point the ad seeks to make; it is about a father's promise to his daughter that he will get fit, come rain, shine or in this case snow. Interestingly the ad is not for fitness gear, running shoes or even edible oils. It is part of ICICI Lombard General Insurance's wellness campaign, but it does not talk about a special product or a new scheme. Instead, in keeping with a growing industry trend, the ad looks to build awareness about the brand as a whole.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance launched its campaign with the hashtag 'DotheDifficult'. The aim, the company says is not selling any insurance product but encourage people to stay fit and healthy. Many insurance companies follow a similar branding strategy as several insurance surveys and studies have indicated that buyers of insurance products prefer to associate with one trusted brand instead of seeking out special products from different brands. Sanjeev Mantri, executive director, ICICI Lombard General Insurance said that they want to play a far more pro-active role in our customer's life, even as settling claims remains at the core of their business.

Wellness has become a crucial theme for all brand building activities for general insurance companies. Compared to earlier years when a life insurance company sought to couch unpalatable truths about death and illness in euphemistic terms in their ads, today brand teams at these firms advise companies on how best to engage with consumers on a platform of care and concern.

Sandeep Patel, CEO and MD, Cigna TTK Health Insurance provides an insight into the consumer mind-set. Typically he says in India, the health insurance category faces two major barriers. Health insurance is considered relevant only when one is sick and all insurance is equated with life insurance. These are barriers that all insurance companies are keen to bring down and hence the desire to associate their brands with bigger themes around health, fitness and such other issues.

WEALTH IN HEALTH

• Insurance companies are using wellness rather than protection of the family as the core message in their advertisements; believe this creates a positive brand image
• ICICI Lombard General Insurance launched its campaign with the hashtag ‘DotheDifficult’; the company says is not selling any insurance product but wants to promote healthier lifestyles
• Cigna TTK Health Insurance ran a campaign with the tagline ‘The love you want when you are ill, the push you need when you are well’; the company says it wants to change customer mindset

"Wellness as a theme fits in with this new approach. Today, we offer gym and yoga reimbursements, nutrition consultation so that our customers can live a fit and healthy life," said Mantri. Insurers also often battle with an image problem; they are seen as ruthless and often callous purveyors of a product that has to become a necessity in most Indian households. Campaigns that focus on wellness help get around that problem. "In many ways, this also highlights our customer-centric approach. For us, it is not just about selling a policy to anyone. Our new brand campaign also motivates people to stay fit and #DoTheDifficult is connected to this thought," Mantri added.

Non-life insurance companies want customers to stay fit and have been offering incentives through lower premiums for staying fit, gym membership packages at discounted rates apart from free medical check-ups on a regular basis. This not only translates into a better deal for policyholders, it also helps insurers have a better risk profile on their books through healthier people.

For insurance companies, the other challenge is to get consumers to deepen their association with the brand by engaging more frequently and understand that there is more to insurance than just assuring a fixed income for one's loved ones after death. "Another insight revealed that people felt that they did not get anything from a health insurance product. We set out on this journey to re-invent health and wellness, keeping innovation at the heart of every step we took," added Patel about the Cigna TTK Health Insurance campaign.

Its campaign has the message, 'The love you want when you are ill, the push you need when you are well.' One of their campaigns features a young couple where the husband falls sick and the wife takes care of him. Subsequently, when he gets better, she pushes him to come out with her for a jog in the morning. This features the insurer's wellness proposition and all its benefits.

Patel said that they consciously created products and services that helped create an image of a brand that cares for its people. "This is how we designed our wellness based loyalty program like ProActiv Living, a condition management program like Health Coach, or the very first health savings product, ProHealth Accumulate," he added.

Cigna recently launched 'Get ProActiv India', a programme designed to encourage and reward people to be physically active. It has been integrated with Cigna TTK's Healthy Rewards Program allowing customers to earn valuable incentives by tracking their fitness related activities.

Insurers offer another insight into the innovative branding and product promotions that the industry has seen in recent months. At a time when health inflation is moving at a high double digit rate, the brands say that they want to convey the message that staying healthy is more pocket-friendly. As Patel says, "We see ourselves not just as a company that covers medical expenses, but a health partner that plays a much larger role, intrinsic to the entire life of a consumer." For the insurance buyer, the true test of the brand promise will lie in the product and the service it encapsulates.