Case study: How Star Health educated people on the importance of health insurance by driving 228 mn+ impressions | #casestudy

With rising costs and medical inflation, should a medical emergency arise, people tend to dip into their savings. Star Health Insurance’s ‘Save your Savings’ campaign spoke about this and here’s how it panned out. 

This case study explores how Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd. came up with a funny and thought-provoking campaign named ‘Save your Savings’ to bring out the importance of prioritising health. 

Category Introduction

The market size of the Indian health insurance sector was about Rs 370 billion in the financial year 2018. This is projected to cross over two trillion rupees by the financial year 2030. This estimated growth takes into account the rising income levels, increasing awareness in urban areas and growing lifestyle-related health demands.

However, health insurance penetration is abysmally low in India, and with medical inflation flaring up, most people, if faced with a need for medical intervention, will struggle to pay hospital and medical bills. 

Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd., an Indian health insurance company headquartered in Chennai, aims to offer services aligned with the needs of the Indian market. 

Brand Introduction 

Star Health Insurance began their operations in 2006 as India’s first standalone health insurance provider and offers services and products in health, personal accident, and overseas and domestic travel insurance.

They offer health insurance plans for individuals, families, and corporates. Star Health also operates directly through various other channels including digital, aggregators, brokers, etc., to cater to the needs of all sections of society. 

Star Health has cashless treatment facilities and more than 14,000 Network Hospitals spread across the country. 

The marketing objective of the brand is to push the category and create awareness among the public about the importance of health insurance. 

Summary

People in India are keen on saving money rather than investing in health insurance. Many think that it is better to invest in other financial instruments than in health insurance. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and several other unpleasant health experiences have proved that just one hefty medical bill is enough to eat away all their hard-earned savings. To add to the worries, those who do not have savings have to go through a whole lot of troubles like pledging their property, selling off their assets, etc. But with health insurance, all such financial hardships can be avoided as it will provide firm financial backup in times of need.

To educate consumers about this, the brand launched ‘Save your Savings’ campaign which aims at instilling the idea of investing in health insurance and not succumbing to exorbitant medical bills which can take a heavy toll on their savings and assets. 

Also read: Expert Speak: What makes a Cannes Lions winning campaign?

Objective 

The objective of this campaign was to spread awareness about health insurance. After conducting market research using both qualitative and quantitative methods, they identified that one of the major roadblocks to the health insurance category development is the traditional mindset of people who think health insurance is a dead investment with no ROI, whereas other instruments give an ROI. 

The campaign’s focus is to improve the health insurance penetration in India which stands abysmally low now. 

To address this and to encourage more and more Indians opt for medical insurance, they have identified one of the top category barriers that helps understand the ground reality and address the core issue.

Brief

The campaign was curated by the in-house agency of Star Health. The brief was to come up with an interesting, funny and thought-provoking story that brings out the importance of getting health insurance and saving one’s savings. 

Execution

Communication Strategy

• While people favour other forms of investments, only health insurance can help you adequately cover your medical/ hospitalization bills, should a medical emergency arise. 
• Should medical emergencies arise, and you do not have health insurance, who will Save Your Savings? 

Execution 

The brand ran a 360-degree advertising campaign aiming to raise awareness for health insurance. The film opens with a supposedly financially knowledgeable middle-aged man, loudly advising someone on the phone, recommending investing in various financial instruments but dismissing insurance as a viable investment option as it has no ROI. 

The young and well-informed protagonist then baffles the man by responding in made-up investment jargon. He then goes on to explain how investing in health insurance will protect the man’s TLS (Total Life Savings) and advises him to invest in SHI (Star Health Insurance) to protect his savings from adverse medical costs.

They used the insight on low investment in health insurance to drive home the point that one can lose all the savings in a second if they do not have health insurance. 

Results 

Quantitative

• The campaign garnered 35M+ Views on the brand video across platforms.
• 228M+ Impressions across all platforms on different versions of the video.
• 4% uplifts in sales as per the ad results on Google.
• 93% of overlapped users have started their journey from the brand film on Google and YouTube (Users who have seen both branding and search ads).

Qualitative 

• The website traffic has seen an increase.
• There is a category and brand recall for customers.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Kotha Kartheek, VP and Head Digital Marketing & Transformation, Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd., said “With medical inflation flaring up in the country, it is very important for people to invest in health insurance. If people do not have health insurance, medical bills and hospitalisation can take a toll on their entire savings. With this campaign, primarily using digital platforms, we intend to reach out to a larger set of audience and create awareness around health insurance as one of the important investments that one should take up.”

Kashyap G, Head of Brand and Communications, Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd., said, “We came up with this campaign after a thorough PAN India market research, where we understood that in our nation, people are so focused on getting an ROI on all their investments and see health insurance as an investment with no benefit. The campaign is built on the premise that HEALTH INSURANCE is important as it protects your hard-earned money from being spent on unforeseen medical emergencies and a necessary investment that helps you to “SAVE YOUR SAVINGS”.

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