“Future Generali has onboarded more than 9,000 agents since the pandemic began”

Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited (FGII), is a general insurance arm of the joint venture between retail giant Future Group and global insurer Generali. A 189-year old global insurance group featuring among the world’s 60 largest companies. The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated the pre-existing mental health problem in the country and Insurance companies have upped their activities during the COVID-19 crisis, addressing the concerns of the people, the uncertainties of the market and encouraging people to take care of themselves and their dear ones. According to an estimate by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 5 years ago 7.5% of Indians suffered from mental health issues and the number is 1 in every 5 Indians.

The recent Health Super Saver campaign drives home the idea that health is a long-term investment. It revolves around the company’s comprehensive individual and floater health policy, Health Super Saver. This unique product offers customers 80% off on premium for a claim-free year. The company has roped in celebrities like the renowned rapper Slow Cheetah and the evergreen actor Anil Kapoor to appeal to the younger audience through an engaging rap song. The song conveys how an individual can earn a return on investment on their most important asset – their health.

In an exclusive interaction with Ruchika Varma, Chief Marketing Officer, Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited speaks about the strategy behind the Health Super Saver Campaign, loss & unemployment challenges faced during the lockdown by the company, steps taken to educate the young masses and a lot more.

What was your strategy behind the ‘Health Super Saver’ campaign? What’s the kind of response that the campaign has received?

Health issues don’t discriminate when it comes to age, which means that thanks to the stress of the modern lifestyle, the younger demographic is as vulnerable to illness and health problems as the older generation. And yet, people in the 25-35 years age group largely tend to underestimate the importance of health insurance. India has the largest youth population globally; around 66 per cent of the total population (more than 808 million) is below the age of 35. Noticing a gap in the market and the need for a product that specifically targets the younger demographic, Future General India Insurance came up with the Health Super Saver plan.

Health Super Saver is a one-of-a-kind insurance product that offers an unprecedented price advantage of 80% discount on premium in the consecutive year, provided there is no claim in the first year. There is no fine print and no hidden conditions.

Any kind of investment should get you returns. Our campaign on the Health Super Saver Plan is based on the concept of Return on Health (ROH), that is, it rewards our customers for staying healthy through an 80% discount on the next premium for a claim-free year. The concept of ROH has been introduced through a fun rap video to connect with the younger audiences.

The campaign has been extremely well received by our audience, our customers and our distribution partners. We have achieved a reach of more than 100 million and higher-than-industry engagement rates. More than 2 lakh customers have shown interest in the product and we have seen a significant lift in our overall retail health sales since the launch of the campaign.

Please tell us more about the process of selecting a musician and an actor for the campaign. How has it served your purpose of reaching and appealing to the younger TG?

Once we came up with the Health Super Saver Plan and the concept of ‘Return on Health’ (ROH), our next goal was to make sure the message reached our target audience – the younger demographic. The best way to connect with this audience was by speaking their language. We did this with a fun, engaging rap video – ‘The Health Rap’ – featuring Bollywood star Anil Kapoor and rapper Slow Cheeta, urging the audience to earn a return on investment on their most important asset – their health.

At 64, Anil Kapoor continues to remain popular across age groups and geographies. He is extremely fit and embodies someone who earns ROH, making him the best ambassador to launch the concept of Return on Health. Contemporary music, particularly rap, holds a great appeal for our target audience, which led us to rope in rapper and actor Chaitanya Sharma a.k.a Slow Cheeta, of ‘Gully Boy’ fame.

Anil Kapoor and Slow Cheeta are the perfect duo to reap the benefits of Future Generali’s Health Super Saver Plan and this combination has struck a chord with young Indians. The Health Rap has been well received on OTT platforms and music streaming apps and was trending on Twitter on the day of the launch.

Youngsters often tend to be carefree. They don’t understand the purpose of insurance at an early age. What kind of steps are you taking to educate people about the benefits of insurance?

India has 400 million millennials; we are the youngest country globally, with a median age of 29. Unfortunately, insurance as an industry struggles with being relevant to this significantly large group of consumers. So, we are constantly striving to drive awareness for protection products among the younger demographic. With the Health Super Saver plan, our attractive no-claim bonus counters the traditional millennial view that health premiums are a ‘loss’ if there is no claim raised in a particular year. This segment has age, fitness, and higher immunity on its side, and is well-positioned to have a claimless year, and thus can really benefit from the Health Super Saver policy.

Millennials and Gen Z are the most active on social media. So, we are focussing on mediums like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to communicate with our young customers while making sure that all our communication is young, fresh and appeals to this age group. ‘Health Rap’, a case in point, highlights the benefits of getting health insurance. In addition, with the easing of lockdown restrictions, more people are now venturing out, so we have extended the campaign to outdoor media as well.

Since the pandemic struck, health has been much of a concern for everyone, be it youngsters or adults. What new concepts have Future Generali launched to ensure their clients’ investment returns on the health policies?

First and foremost, it is important to understand that our products do not offer any investment returns. They are either indemnity products (that is, incurred hospitalisation charges are reimbursed) or Benefit products (like Hospi cash – where the cash is paid in case of hospitalisation).

Health insurance has come under the spotlight in this environment and is likely to remain in focus. To cater to this growing need, we are looking at the specific needs of various demographics to create tailor-made, innovative, and new products that address current risks. 

Our latest offering is Health Super Saver, a comprehensive individual and floater health policy. This unique product offers customers an 80% discount on premium for a claim-free year. We know that the younger age group prioritises fitness and is more likely to have a claimless year, and our product is curated for this segment.

Apart from this, our Future Generali Health Total insurance policy covers hospitalisation and OPD consultation for mental illness. This product supporting the #HealthInsideOut campaign is one such step in this direction that helps fill the market gaps based on consumer insights. 

There has been a huge loss in employment and uncertainty due to the pandemic, which has affected cash inflows. How has that impacted growth for your company?

The last 18 months have certainly been one of the most difficult times in recent history, and the role of insurance became even more critical during this time. At FGII, our primary job was to ensure that our customers could reach out to us to buy, renew, get serviced or claim easily and that we were accessible to them at all times. Our Business Continuity Plan had kicked in even before the lockdown was announced and this helped us stay ahead of the curve to serve our customers. We launched relevant health products that covered treatment for COVID-19, we digitised our sales operations across the customer value chain, our underwriting went online, our policies were issued digitally and we invested in technology to enable our call centre and other employees to work from home. We enabled our agents to prospect and service our customers virtually through platforms like social media. We launched self service platforms, including a refreshed mobile app which allowed our customers to manage all their policies, renew and register claims easily and with speed. We were the only ones in the industry to recruit heavily and expand our distribution to reach our customers. We have onboarded more than 9,000 agents since the pandemic began.

All of these initiatives improved our brand relevance and made our customers’ lives easier, which has resulted in us growing at 87% in retail health. We are the fastest growing general insurance company amongst the top 10.

We will continue to scale up our distribution reach going forward, increase awareness of health insurance products, and gain market share in a capital-efficient manner.