MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Making life insurance synonymous with living a better, healthier lifestyle is how AIA Philippines hopes to make a mark on Filipinos’ lives. Through engaging, empowering, and rewarding systems like AIA Vitality, and new products and benefits powered by its fully owned subsidiary Medicard, AIA is stepping up its efforts to make health solutions more relevant and accessible to the market. “The [life insurance] industry has evolved so much. There are so many different insurance solutions available to Filipinos. And that’s the conversation we want to have with our existing and potential customers. What are their needs? What solutions can we offer to address these needs?” shared Melissa Henson, AIA Philippines Chief Marketing Officer.
AIA is one of the leading life insurance companies in the Philippines, with presence across 18 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. But this financial services giant wasn’t always known as AIA Philippines. For over 60 years, it was known as the insurance company Philam Life, established in 1947. In 2009, Philam Life became part of the AIA Group, the largest pan-Asian life insurance company. With a new name comes more robust efforts to underscore its mission and purpose, while reinforcing its commitment to provide relevant, innovative, and tangible solutions to enhance Filipino lives.
“When I joined AIA in 2023, it was very clear that there was an opportunity to build on our strong legacy, and continue our storytelling on the journey we are on as a company — from Philam Life to AIA. This is also to build affinity for the AIA brand the way we’ve enjoyed the strong affinity for Philam Life for over 75 years now.”
“With you wherever life goes”
Following their rebranding, AIA Philippines wanted to show its dedication to serving the Filipino market through a new campaign, “With you wherever life goes,” developed with their agency partner VML. “When we were trying to think of what to do for this campaign, we wanted to define and communicate the role that AIA can play in Filipinos lives,” Melissa began to explain. “We’re all on a journey. We’re all trying to get somewhere, and we all have something we want to achieve. But the role we would like to play as AIA is to be able to serve as a partner to Filipinos — and help them get from their point A to their point B.”
“For our customers, we’re here to help them prepare for the future, whether that be strengthening them financially and making sure they’re prepared for any situation that may come; helping them plan for something specific that they want to achieve in the future; or helping them make sure that they have a backup plan in case they fall ill so that their financial assets remain intact, no matter what happens.”
“From a career perspective, it could also mean introducing the value of being a Life Planner to a whole new generation of Filipinos because it opens up a whole set of possibilities for them.”
Henson added: “Being a Life Planner provides flexibility, work-life balance, and being part of a community of people who want to succeed and be good at what they do. So whether it’s personally or professionally, we want to be a partner for people on their journey, and show them that wherever life goes, we’re here for them.”
Helping people lead healthier, longer, better lives
AIA’s Purpose across all its markets is to help people live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives. “Our Purpose drives everything we do at AIA,” Melissa stated. She shared that one of the biggest moves that AIA has made to embody this purpose is by bringing in leading health management organization (HMO) MediCard to be part of its group of companies. Through this, she said, “we can now enable and empower people to take charge of their health — from prevention, diagnosis, treatment to recovery — really helping people through their entire health journey.”
“We are the only life insurance company in the market that can provide a full end-to-end health solution. That’s important to us, because of our focus on health.”
How AIA Vitality is changing the insurance industry
AIA is working hard to make life insurance take on a new meaning: from something people think of when dreaded events happen, to something that can motivate them to live a healthier lifestyle. “There are many aspects to living healthy, such as being active, sleeping more, getting proper health checkups, and keeping our stress levels in check,” Melissa began. “AIA Vitality is designed to motivate members to engage in healthy activities. As you take more steps, get health checks, and track sleep and stress levels, you earn points in your AIA Vitality account.”
AIA Vitality is a unique health and wellness program by AIA Philippines that rewards its users when they make an effort to become healthier, such as taking online health assessments, going for regular checkups, and even visiting your dentist. “It was first launched in the Philippines in 2017, and it’s something that we continue to develop as customer lifestyles and technology evolve. We find new capabilities, new trends, and new ways we can engage and reward our customers.”
“As you accumulate points, you can redeem them for rewards. We offer everything from mobile wallet credits, all the way to retail vouchers. As you move up in your AIA Vitality status — members start at Bronze, and can make their way up to Silver, Gold and Platinum — you can get additional coverage on your policy as well. We offer both instant rewards that are like treats given to our members for living healthy, as well as long-term policy-related rewards that boost their insurance protection.”
The app also has online quizzes available that could determine if the user is eating healthily, sleeping well, and doing enough physical movements. “All of those are nudges that can help people be much more aware of how they’re doing from a health perspective.”
Meeting people where they are
With AIA’s initiatives on making living a healthy lifestyle more fun and rewarding, it’s essential how they communicate these benefits to potential customers while also breaking the stereotype on life insurance. Melissa tells adobo: “I think it’s going to be a conversation with consumers that will happen over a period of time. Right now, we’re reintroducing our brand, letting Filipinos know that we are here for them as AIA, just as we were when they knew us as Philam Life. We continue to talk about what different solutions we have available to help them achieve their goals.”
“But we’re also looking for different ways to reach different types of consumers to enable them in their financial and health journey.” She cited that they are opening other avenues to realize their Purpose, like through advocacies. For instance, they recently brought AIA Healthiest Schools to the Philippines. This program, which has also been launched in other countries where AIA is present, such as Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, teaches kids about being active, eating healthily, prioritizing wellness, and advocating for sustainability. Melissa also shared that when they interact with people who attend various sporting events sponsored by AIA, it gives the company an opportunity to connect with them and build awareness on health.
AIA Philippines is also diversifying the channels they’re using to communicate with people, especially those who are not part of their customer base yet. “We have some key opinion leaders (KOLs) and brand ambassadors who use their platforms to help us spread our message.” They are also working with different content creators and doing podcasts, including a recent podcast episode with Bianca Gonzalez for Paano Ba ‘To.
Journeying with you through life
True to the tagline, “With you wherever life goes,” Melissa emphasized the role that AIA hopes to play in people’s lives — a companion on one’s journey. “Everyone has a goal, an aspiration, somewhere they want to be. AIA is the insurance company that is here and will evolve with our customers’ needs, so that we can journey with them, wherever they want to go. Whatever life brings, we will be there for them.”
Learn more about AIA Philippines and its products on aia.com.ph
