Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between two groups – the game changers in Retail Trade in India and Generali – a 189 years old global insurance group featuring among the world’s 60 largest companies.
At Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited, our mission is to actively protect and enhance peoples’ lives.
Considering the higher incidence of mental health issues in India, especially during the on-going pandemic, Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited (FGII), announced the launch of #HealthInsideOut – an innovative campaign to create awareness on mental health. As the first step of its multi-phased campaign, the brand rolled out the – Total Health Score, a unique self-assessment tool that enables an individual to quantify one’s mental health status. Through this campaign, FGII encourages everyone to take their mental health seriously and emphasises that one’s mental health is as important as physical health to be healthy inside out.
To create awareness about mental health, the brand associated with 25 influencers including celebrities like Shilpa Shetty, Mandira Bedi, Sunil Chettri, Yasmin Karachiwala, and Ranveer Allahabadia. These extremely physical fit influencers relayed the message that despite having a robust physical fitness regime and eating well, they still scored less than 100% on The Total Health Score because Total Health is both physical and mental.As a part of this campaign, FGII plans to release a series of videos that would focus on creating awareness around mental wellness and the Total Health Score.
Ruchika Varma, CMO, Future Generali India Insurance takes through the campaign, and why mental health is as important as physical health and much more.
In this pandemic are we seeing a spike in people buying Insurance not only for self but family as a whole. Is there a spike in Medical Insurance as well?
Consumer behavior tells us that Indians do not traditionally spend money on protection products. Health Insurance, a product that has almost guaranteed usability in urban India, has sadly been characterised by low penetration and limited demand. The COVID-19 situation has turned this on its head. Research tells us 77% of consumers are now more cautious about their health than before and realize that their health is also an asset that needs financial protection. As a result, there has been a positive inclination towards medical insurance during these times.
This campaign of yours talks about Mental Health, what was the idea behind this campaign?
From a cultural context, mental health has always been an issue in India. It is estimated that over 90 million Indians suffer from some form of mental illness, ranging from stress to anxiety to deeper issues like depression & trauma. This has only worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallouts on the economy, jobs & social disconnection due to extended lockdowns. WHO has predicted that 20% of the Indians will suffer from some kind of mental illness by the end of this year.
Despite these staggering statistics, mental illness is a taboo topic in India. No-one really talks about it and people suffering from it typically live in denial. As a brand known for empathy and innovation, we want to spark positive conversations around mental health and propel a movement that gets Indians to take their mental health seriously.
This movement’s starting point is to get people to understand that mental health is as important as physical health and give them quantifiable ways to measure it. To enable this, we created the Total Health Score,a simple questionnaire & API-based assessment available on our website and mobile app. The Total Health Score is designed by practicing therapists and counsellors who understand the early signs of potential mental health issues. Once the individual completes the assessment s/he will be attributed to a score that outlines their mental wellness quotient and gives them an indication of potential issues or mental wellness concern that they may be going through at the moment.
To help understand these issues and manage them, we also developed a library of video and audio assets around key issues that Indians are suffering from today – stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression and anger. An individual can get access to these assets after identifying his Total Health Score. This self-care content is curated by mental health experts, especially for Future Generali.
We could not think of a better time to launch our mental health campaign #HealthInsideOut than on Oct 10th, celebrated as World Mental Health Day. 25 fitness influencers were roped in to take the Total Health Score & drive the brand message that that one has to be physically and mentally healthy to be healthy inside out. We have also launched videos to urge people to find their Total Health Score, currently running on news websites, fitness websites and IPL.
Who is the Target audience for this campaign?
Our campaign is designed to cater to anyone who believes/ wants to be healthy both physically and mentally; someone who believes that health is an investment in the long term.
The campaign has roped in 25 celebrities, the strategy and reasoning behind this?
People often focus on physical health when asked if they are healthy. We don’t even consider our mental wellbeing when we think about our health.
As a brand, we wanted to drive home the point that Total Heath is both physical and mental. We got some of India’s physically fit influencers like Shilpa Shetty, Mandira Bedi, Sunil Chettri, Yasmin Karachiwali, Ranveeer Allahabadia and many others to take the Future Generali Total Health Score and share the result on their social media handles. Anyone would expect them to score 100%, but when they published their score, which was less than 100%, it made people sit up and take notice and land our point that one has to be physically and mentally healthy inside out.
During this crisis how have you stayed engaged with your customers, agents and business partners?
In our category, people are now searching for health policies and we have ensured that our SEO, SEM, website, mobile app & call centre address this need. Consumers are also concerned about service levels and claims processing during this time. We have ensured that our service has remained uninterrupted even during the lockdown. Our customers have appreciated this and our NPS scores have never been higher. Besides, we have armed our distribution partners with relevant tools that allow for digital prospecting.
How have you engaged your employees to keep themselves motivated and on a personal level what was your motivation and go to activity?
Future Generali is committed to being an ‘Employee First’ organization, focused on employee wellbeing at all times.
Our stance on mental wellness is not just for our customers, it’s a brand philosophy that is extended to our employees as well. Early on in the lockdown, we launched a free Covid Helpline where employees could speak to a counselor or seek help or mentoring from mental health experts. We have also run wellness sessions like yoga & Zumba to keep them de-stressed and organized fun game sessions post work where families could also participate. As lines between personal life and work are constantly getting blurred, the organization has also been sending work-from-home tips to ensure that employees take some time off to unwind.
Working on #HealthInsideOut made us all realize how we tend to neglect our mental health. Personally, I have been indulging in yoga, breathing exercises and meditation to keep myself focused and relaxed.
In the new normal where digital has become a way of life will you focus more on going digital? Will traditional mediums also have a play in these campaigns?
It’s true, social distancing has led to online social connectivity. Visits to social media sites have increased by 19%, with a high increase even for 35 years. There is a 32% growth in visits to news sites, an 11% growth in visits to health sites, digital consumption on mobile phones have increased by 3 hours. Our media mix for this campaign is based on where people are today, and therefore is an optimal combination of all digital touchpoints. We have redesigned our purchase journeys on our digital platforms to make it simpler for people to buy and renew their policies. We have made claims registration a seamless process on our digital assets. We are clear that digital will lead the way, but as we see the lockdown gradually being lifted and as more people start traveling to work, OOH and radio will slowly regain traction. We may want to consider these for our upcoming campaigns.
What is going to be your strategy for the coming festive season?
The brand’s focus will continue to be on health as a category, but with uplift in auto sales, we will also be ensuring that we connect with our motor customers. We plan to continue building conversations & driving awareness around mental health to position Future Generali as a relevant, differentiated brand focused on consumers’ needs.
