HCF is Australia’s largest not-for-profit health fund. They were facing a major brand challenge in that they were being outspent by their competitors. Not just by a little, but by triple.

To make matters worse, HCF’s competitors were offering new members up to 10 weeks free— but what people didn’t know, was that these offers are heavily subsidised by existing members’ premiums. As a not-for-profit, the idea of spending members’ money on promotions rather than better health care was in utter conflict with their member-first ethos.

Our brief was to develop and launch a new brand platform – ’We Put Our Money Where Our Members Are’. The platform’s intention was to differentiate HCF from the bigger, health insurers that answer to shareholders first, not their members.

Our objectives were to increase brand awareness in this cluttered market and generate product leads.

In Australia, health insurance companies give away up to 10 weeks free to lure new members. But those big giveaways cost millions of dollars that could be spent on better health care. 

So instead of giving away an enticing 10 weeks free, HCF did the unthinkable and offered…basically nothing. We launched The Not-So-Fancy Offer and saved a fortune for HCF members by giving away random stuff we found lying around our office. Everything from pre-loved pens to paper planes, bubble wrap to rubber-band balls.

We gave away our not-so-fancy sign-up gifts in branches all over Australia. And when those ran out, we gave people PDF gifts they could print at home. The campaign was supported by a suite of films, radio, out-of-home and social — all designed to show people that while HCF doesn’t offer shiny welcome gifts, what we do offer is far superior value for our members.

Our target audience was Australians, aged 25-54, who already had private health insurance but were considering switching providers.

We didn’t want to attract people who were particularly price sensitive because we’d lose them the next time a competitor offered something better. What’s more, the Australian Government regulations stipulate that a health insurance fund must maintain a balanced demographic across its portfolio. Meaning that our campaign needed to resonate with people of all ages.

We knew that we would never be able to outspend our competitors in terms of media during switching season (April). And, as a not-for-profit, we’d never be able to offer a welcome deal discount as enticing as the other health insurers. So our approach was to hijack switching season with an offer too unusual to ignore. One that got the public thinking about the value their health insurer was really offering them.

Implementation:

The health insurance industry is an extremely tightly regulated environment. To pull off The-Not-So Fancy Offer, we worked closely with HCF’s branding team, legal department, and membership acquisitions team.

Timeline:

The campaign was strategically launched in March 2023, just in time when rate rises occur across the industry. This is a key switching period as customers begin looking around for a better deal, and new-to-market customers are attracted by the tax benefits of obtaining private health insurance ahead of the end of financial year.

Placement:

The Not-So-Fancy welcome gift offer was rolled out in branches across Australia and supported by film, radio, out-of-home and social — all designed to show people that while HCF doesn’t offer shiny welcome gifts, what we do offer is far superior value for our members.

Scale:

The Not-So-Fancy Offer was a fully-integrated, national campaign including 21 films, 10 OOH pieces and seven radio ads.

Turns out our Not-So-Fancy Offer was our most successful campaign ever.

- The number of Aussies we’re top-of-mind for went up 31%.

- Paid Site traffic went up more than 30%.

- Product enquiries increased by 40%.

- According to research, two out of 3 people who saw the campaign felt annoyed that their insurer did expensive offers.

- HCF entered Australia’s Top 100 Most Valuable Brands for the very first time (coming in at number #49).

- Despite having a lower share of voice, HCF was the only brand during the campaign period to record an increase in salience. The result was HCF’s highest ever level of brand awareness and highest ever brand salience score.