ICMIF member Benenden Health, a UK-based not-for-profit, affordable healthcare provider, has evolved its brand with the launch of a new visual style, tone of voice and multi-platform advertising campaign to tackle preconceptions about private healthcare.

Benenden Health’s 2022 ‘Time for a Check-in’ campaign in partnership with Channel 4 utilised the successful proposition, ‘Healthcare Done Different’. This summer, lead creative agency McCann Leeds were tasked with further evolving the Benenden Health brand by building a new campaign that pushes forward that successful proposition and visual style.

The refreshed tone of voice originates from the foundations of the successful ‘Time for a Check-in’ campaign, incorporating key characteristics of being reassuringly different, bold and accessible to its audience. An example of its new tone of voice is:

“Whoever you are Britain, we’ve got you. With affordable private healthcare for everyone.
“Okay, we know what you’re thinking – private healthcare. It’s expensive. Exclusive. It’s for privileged people, never-had-any-health-issues-before people, people other than you.
“Actually, it doesn’t have to be any of those things. Because at Benenden Health, we do healthcare differently.”

The low-cost healthcare provider’s new ad campaign, produced and directed by London-based Bullion Productions, expands on its progressed tone of voice with a series of four TVC adverts and two radio adverts targeting B2C and B2B audiences, with the aim of further tackling the myth that private healthcare is expensive and not accessible.

Its 30-second hero advert emphasises these perceptions, using ‘real-life’ actors to set the scene that healthcare is both affordable and inclusive. The hero ad is supported by two 10-second B2C ads and Benenden Health’s first dedicated B2B key consideration ad, as well as two radio ads that echo the new proposition.

Natalie Walker, Head of Marketing at Benenden Health comments, “If we want to provide private healthcare for the everyday person and for businesses, we’re going to have to tackle people’s preconceptions about it first.

“At Benenden Health we understand why many dismiss private healthcare down to their worries about paying increasingly high fees, or even being rejected due to pre-existing conditions. In this campaign, we’re going to show everyone that there is an alternative, while also bringing some relatable humour and trademark Benenden Health positivity into the mix, too.

“So, whatever people think about private healthcare – we’re here to show them something different.”

Olly Sowden, Managing Director at McCann Leeds adds, “This new campaign represents the next evolution of the Benenden Health brand, having moved the brand into the ‘Healthcare for Everyone’ space in the four years since working together.

“We’ve taken the stance of wanting the brand to always push on and never standstill. The Channel 4 partnership pushed the brand into a braver, younger space, and this next campaign is pushing it on again.

“We’re constantly striving to be more, and more confident in how we articulate Benenden Health’s unique positioning, and how we overcome pre-conceptions and barriers. We can be confident as it is a truly authentic proposition.”

Both the ads and brand launch follow the success of Benenden Health’s 2022 integrated partnership campaign with Channel 4, alongside ‘business as usual’ (BAU) above-the-line activity that gained an unprecedented year-on-year brand awareness increase of 5%, and year-on-year brand consideration increase of 11%.