Medibank asks what is better when it comes to health

Medibank is publicly challenging what better health means for all Australians, even if better health means not taking out health insurance, with the launch of its new brand platform that aims to offer more transparency in health insurance.

The insurer said it is making itself vulnerable, challenging industry norms, and asking the difficult questions in its new Medibank 100 integrated  'What is Better?' campaign and ‘People Like You’ interactive tool.

The launch follows Medibank’s strong half-year financial results and an improved NPS score. According to its financial report, service NPS improved on the Medibank brand to +15.6, and +30.4 on the ahm sub brand. Medibank reported a net profit of $245.6 million for the half-year to 31 December 2017, up 5.9 per cent year-on-year off total revenue of $3.47 billion.

As a result, Medibank will give $20 million back to customers as part of a one-off loyalty bonus, and launch a new priority program for long-standing members.

Medibank chief customer officer, David Koczkar, said transparency and personalisation are key to the brand platform in order to allow customers to make the right decision for them. The aim is to ultimately empower Australians to discover whether or not health insurance is better for their individual health needs.

“The platform was borne from the insight that better health means something different to everyone,” Koczkar told CMO.

“My personal idea of better health is very different to other people’s. We recognise we don’t have all the answers, so we wanted to listen and ask questions. We really want to understand what an individual’s ideas of better health actually mean for their health and their choices around health insurance.”

To facilitate understanding, Medibank created the ‘Medibank 100’ involving ongoing conversations with a group of 100 people from all walks of life, from those who swear by their health insurance, to those who don’t want it. Their unscripted opinions form the centrepiece of the campaign.

Launching via TBWA, B.B.E and Carat, the fully integrated campaign features short and long-form video and written content, and a range of digital and broadcast executions, including a campaign page ‘What is Better?’, which houses the new ‘People Like You’ interactive tool.

At a time of continual year-on-year health insurance premium increases, the tool has been created in response to customer demand for increased transparency and visibility over procedure costs. Customers can see the top procedures people within their demographic are most likely to require, and the financial breakdown for each including what out-of-pocket expenses are likely to be.

The campaign page also houses a range of supporting content explaining how the public and private systems differ for various conditions and procedures, as well as the benefits and considerations around the options. This is on top of the My Medibank app, which the insurer claimed is the only local offering that shows customers what limits they have left on their policy.

Koczkar said health is extremely personal, but it is also extremely subjective. In order to better personalise health insurance for customers, it must first discover what health means for them.

“Our creative showcases these people with similar health issues who have completely different responses. Some prefer to address their health issues in the public system, and some prefer a health insurance that gives them more choices and ultimately puts control back in their hands," he said. 

“We’re really lucky in Australia we have that choice, and we want to ensure we recognise every individual has an idea of what’s better for them. We want to arm our customers with the very best information to make a decision."

The plan is to continue the debate around various topics over the next few months, starting with ‘Is health insurance better’ before moving into ‘What does it mean for better health?’. This is being supported by new tools to provide more transparency into health insurance, including understanding who pays for what, and how much Medibank pays how much Medicare pays on a procedure, which is a big consideration for customers, Koczkar said.

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