Finance Marketing Summit: ‘Tell the truth’ – How honesty delivered HCF’s best campaign to date
In a sector known for its high turnover after acquisition, persistent marketing gimmicks, and endless promotions, Australia’s largest not-for-profit health fund, HCF, took a different approach in a campaign that proved to be highly effective.
Presenting at Mumbrella’s Finance Marketing Summit in a session titled How HCF Rewrote the Marketing Rules of the Health Insurance Category, HCF marketing GM Tatiana Papavero and Clemenger BBDO chief strategy officer Simon Wassef shared their strategy for success: being honest and embracing authenticity.
The Not So Fancy Offer, HCF’s most successful campaign to date, branched away from typical industry practices, choosing to reveal its core identity as a not-for-profit health insurer committed to serving its customers.
“[We decided to] stop talking about all that stuff and tell the truth about what HCF really is,” Wassef said – referring to the stereotypical connotations associated with health insurance.
The Not So Fancy Offer campaign drew from the historical roots of private health insurance, tracing back over a century when a group of workers contributed to a common fund for healthcare emergencies.
“That is private health insurance to this day. This is still how we work,” Papavero explained.
“We’re the largest not-for-profit and the money that we are getting, we are reinvesting the profit into the health care of our members. So for us, the money that we have and the people that we have in that pool means that we can make sure, as one of the big players, that we are keeping private health insurance for the community.”
The campaign turned heads with its tongue-in-cheek approach, featuring HCF employees playfully searching their office for quirky giveaway items, from pet rocks to odd socks.
It underscored the company’s commitment to genuine care rather than flashy promotions.
“We identified that what we were trying to communicate was the fact that we have people’s back when they need it, and we are putting the money where our mouth is, literally,” Papavero said.
The results of the campaign were significant; HCF saw a 31% increase in brand awareness, more than 30% growth in site traffic, and a 40% rise in product inquiries. Notably, two-thirds of those who saw the campaign were frustrated with their insurers’ expensive offers, further cementing HCF’s position as a leader in the market.
Additionally, HCF made its debut in Australia’s top 50 most valuable brands. The cost of the quirky giveaways was around $11,000, a fraction of what would have been spent on a traditional promotion.
According to Wassef, the honesty shared between HCF and Clemenger BBDO was the key to success.
“It was like, now you’ve got a truth that you cannot get away from,” he said.
“And what I’d say to my client colleagues, but as well my agency colleagues in the room is, that’s a good fight. That’s better than being nice to each other and then you end up in an alright space, than being a bit harder on each other and going ‘What’s the truth?’
“Tell the truth and then it might feel like a fight, but actually it’s a good place.”
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