We knew a product story wouldn’t cut it, so to launch the programme, we provoked a national media discussion about NZ’s real health – inviting everyone to find out their true health age versus their chronological age.

A nationwide sample of 1,500 people completed a bespoke Health Age survey created by experts at Synergy Health to establish NZ’s health age, then we seeded the result to the media. Journalists couldn’t resist discovering their own health age, creating national coverage on TV and in print.

We also chose respondents with extreme results and worked with a special effects make-up artist to transform their appearances – older or younger – to reflect their inner health age.

We captured this in a video called ‘How Old Are You Really?’, which we launched via social media and online advertising, with a link inviting Kiwis to take the survey and uncover their health age too.

1. Independent research:

To establish the current ‘health age’ of the nation, a bespoke piece of research was commissioned with 1,500 New Zealand adults from around the country.

2. Media materials:

A suite of media releases was created to define the story at a national and regional level, with infographics of the results to visualise the health age insights.

3. Media relations:

Exclusive coverage was negotiated with TV3 Newshub (TV news, online and radio), Newstalk ZB (radio) and the NZ Herald (print and online), followed by regional and lifestyle media.

4. Spokesperson leverage:

Dr John Mayhew, well known for his work with the All Blacks, had recently suffered a cardiac arrest. This took the nation by surprise considering his active lifestyle, and gave us a reference point for illustrating how important knowing your health status is. Dr Mayhew also offered each journalist personal feedback on their health age results.

This PR campaign didn’t just smash the set objectives for Sovereign – it changed the conversation about health in New Zealand. Over the longer term, Healthy by Sovereign will reduce health insurance claims, and could ultimately lower the burden on NZ’s national healthcare.

Media outputs:

- Highest share of voice amongst all insurance brands in editorial coverage in May, June and July

- 5.3 million points of reach (95 items of coverage)

- 90% positive tone, 10% neutral tone, 0% negative tone

- 90% of coverage included 2 x Healthy by Sovereign key messaging and 10% included 1 key messaging

- $421,353 PR value / $140,451 Advertising value

- Newstalk ZB, Radio Live, NZ Herald, stuff.co.nz, Fairfax regional newspapers, TV3 Newshub and a multitude of online news sites covered the Healthy by Sovereign launch

Target audience outcomes:

- More than 12,822 Kiwis visited the campaign microsite

- Creating nearly 35,000 new users on the Healthy by Sovereign website

- This is an incredible improvement of 207% on the months prior to launch

- ROI: $7 cost per prospect

Business outcomes:

- 45% increase in estimates since launch

- 53% increase in policies sold since launch (compared with previous quarter)

- 96% adviser opt-in since launch

- 56% increase in average daily views of health insurance content