We want to take the jargon out of words: Antony Jacob on Apollo Munich's ad

Apollo Munich Health Insurance, a standalone health insurance company, has rolled out a new advertising campaign – ‘Don’t Think Twice’ – to highlight the benefits of its flagship product, Optima Restore. Optima Restore enhances the value of the insurance product by providing features like ‘Restore’ and ‘Multiplier’ for policyholders, whether they bust their sum insured limits or don’t claim at all.

Conceptualised by Cheil Communications, the ‘Don’t Think Twice’ TVCs urge people to continue enjoying their lives without any worry, even in case they have busted the sum insured of their health insurance policies. Life goes on irrespective of circumstances, so one should not stop enjoying the small aspects of life after an untoward health incident – whether it is taking a walk or indulging in one’s favourite cheeseburger.

Optima Restore Apollo Munich Burger ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkgnr8PAsDU

Speaking about the new campaign, Antony Jacob, CEO, Apollo Munich Health Insurance, said, “Formulated in two TVCs, the ‘Don’t Think Twice’ campaign informs consumers that Optima Restore provides them with the much needed respite from the predicament of ‘which health cover is best for me’ and also offers a double safety blanket solution to its customers. It not only provides protection against the high healthcare costs, but also restores a policyholder’s sum insured when it gets exhausted in the policy period, for any other illness in the same policy year.”

He further said, “Although the overall acceptance and understanding of health insurance amongst the masses has evolved positively over the past few years, the number of people covered remains very low. One of the biggest challenges is the lack of understanding of product features, thereby creating a perception that health insurance is a complicated financial tool. At Apollo Munich, we believe our task is clear – “Let’s Uncomplicate”. We want to take the fear out of faces, the jargon out of words, the bitter out of medicine and the trouble out of treatment.”

In keeping with Apollo Munich’s brand promise of ‘Let’s Uncomplicate’, the current campaign, aims to explain health insurance simply and succinctly to help people make the right choice on which policy to purchase for oneself and family. Apollo Munich integrates the narrative with the benefits of buying Optima Restore.

“As a storytelling technique, we chose to cast the perpetrator, the sufferer, as well as the savior as characters in a story. The seemingly harmless burger or the banana peel – both have their evil plans. The sufferer could be any one of us, just recovering from a health-cum-financial beating. That doesn’t exempt us from being beaten again. This is where the uniqueness of the product comes in, which no other brand can stake claim to,” explained Kundan Joshee, Senior Vice President, Cheil Worldwide.

Optima Restore Apollo Munich Banana ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGoJl5bWXbQ

Differentiating this campaign from the previous ones, Jacob added, “Through the ‘Don’t Think Twice’ campaign, we are reconnecting with the needs of our core consumer base in order to create a compelling brand positioning that will help drive and sustain our growth in the long run. The current campaign – ‘Don’t Think Twice’ aims to explain health insurance simply and succinctly to help people make the right choice on which policy to purchase for oneself and family.”

“We chose to keep it real”

Elaborating on the campaign, Kundan said, “Apollo Munich stands for ‘Let’s Uncomplicate’ and that’s what we wanted to dial up once again while building a campaign for Optima Restore plan. Life is surprising and it’s this unpredictability that’s being dialed up and resolved in the new campaign to make its relevance come alive. The sheer simplicity of the execution and its straightforward tonality again brings to life the straight talking brand. Look forward to lots of new things from this brand.”

Vijay Simha, Group Creative Director, Cheil India, added here, “While most insurance brands invoke fear or bamboozle you, with Apollo Munich we chose to keep it real. The campaign idea came from a simple observation that things that cause damage to your health don’t really know or care about your financial situation. They simply strike. It’s really up to you to be prepared with the right health cover. So we decided to tell this story in all its simplicity.”

“As a storytelling technique, we chose to cast the perpetrator, the sufferer, as well as the saviour as characters in a story. The seemingly harmless burger or the banana peel – both have their evil plans. The sufferer could be any one of us, just recovering from a health-cum-financial beating. That doesn’t exempt us from being beaten again. This is where the uniqueness of the product comes in, which no other brand can stake claim to,” Simha further said.

The campaign went on air from February 21, 2016 on general entertainment channels (in the South), and general news and regional news channels across the country in five languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

#DontThinkTwice campaign promotions are also being done on YouTube, Apollo Munich’s Facebook and Twitter handles, along with WhatsApp engagement with all stakeholders – advisors, prospects and existing customers.