Prudential Hong Kong ramps up personalised healthcare programmes

Moving into the second year of a DNA-based nutrition programme with genetics testing firm Prenetics, Prudential Hong Kong has rolled out another personalised health management plan to ramp up its offerings promoting preventive wellness.

Targeting consumers aged 25 to 50, the myDNA Pro programme provides DNA assessment for diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol, the "three highs", before users are enrolled in a 16-week nutrition and fitness plan with the guidance of a personal health coach on the programme's mobile app. The nutrigenomics programme launched last year was more like a tailor-made nutrition plan based on the user's DNA makeup.

Celia Chan, the company's senior director of business development, said the changing role of health insurance companies puts them in a position to be more involved in helping consumers manage their lifestyles. "The health and medical insurance market is highly competitive," she said. "Product innovation continues to be aggressive and in recent years, manufacturers have increasingly sought to differentiate and gain a competitive edge for their propositions by offering a range of health and wellness related value added services." 

While training for frontline personnel remains a key focus for raising awareness about new products in the insurance business, Chan said being present at different stages of the consumer journey, through integration of above- and below-the-line advertising will help to the brand drive acceptance of the new product.

Veteran financial commentator Chan Wing Luk, popularly known as 'Uncle Luk',  was chosen as the KOL for the new launch. Chan scored 73 points, better than Prudential CEO Derek Yung's 44, in a risk assessment the men shared during the product launch event earlier this month. Canto-pop star Sammi Cheng fronted the campaign for the nutrigenomics programme last year. 

Chan Wing Luk (left) with Derek Yung

"What makes it even more interesting is that Mr Chan's daughter also took the test and their results show that both of them are at high risk for type 2 diabetes," Celia Chan said. "This shows the effects of genetics and how consumers can better take care of themselves after understanding their genetic profiles."

Campaign's view: Compared to more content-driven campaigns for financial services and insurance products released over the past year, this campaign, anchored by the 30-second video spot above, is rather conservative in approach and low on engagement with the audience. Consumers probably do not need to see so many DNA helices to understand that the product is built on scientific foundations. Instead, the personal health coach feature is an alternative proposition to show how the product can help users to take charge of their health.