Like many industries in Hong Kong, insurance has been hit hard by the COVID restrictions over the last two years. In fact, almost one-third of international insurance brands are considering downsizing their Hong Kong operations. Telum caught up with Jasmine Lam, FTLife Insurance (FTLife)’s Vice President, Branding and Communications, to hear about how this local insurer was engaging local Hong Kongers again.

Enhancing customer engagement and experience
McKinsey & Co’s Global Insurance Report 2022 highlights the importance of leaders at insurers considering new customer behaviours and strengthening their customer journey. At FTLife, Jasmine’s brand and comms strategy has mirrored these trends. She says she has witnessed a shift at FTLife ever since it joined New World Group, and that instead of merely being a service provider to customers, the insurance company has put emphasis on becoming more customer-centric.

The outcome of this is more customer touchpoints such as comms programmes to connect with customers at different stages of their lives. Jasmine also stresses the importance of referencing the Voice of the Customer and creating content that customers can relate to or care about.

For example, the brand’s latest campaign titled “Championing health. Championing life.” features three swimmers that have participated in the popular local event New World Harbour Race to encourage fellow Hong Kongers to lead healthy and fulfilling lives after the limitations of lockdowns and restrictions.

Modernising digital platforms
Increasing digitalisation also plays a huge part in adding value to the insurance industry, as it not only augments the customer experience but also “drives productivity gains and operational performance” according to the report. In this respect, FTLife has been making use of digital platforms to connect with the younger generation such as via mobile apps where customers can conveniently review their insurance status and a designated website for medical consultation.

During Lunar New Year this year, FTLife even jumped on the latest trend and joined the first-ever Chinese New Year fair in the metaverse. To uphold its brand promise “Think beyond insurance.” and to spread positivity amid strict social distancing measures, FTLife created a local experience for visitors at the metaverse fair where they could visit a cherry blossom tree to make a wish. Jasmine points out that novel digital communications strategies like this have allowed FTLife to cater to different customer needs by collaborating with brands that the insurer would otherwise be unlikely to partner with.

Reimagining internal culture and comms
Coming from an agency background, Jasmine cut her teeth on building clients from strategy to execution for a multitude of clients, and she’s reaping the benefits of that experience in her current role.

She acknowledges that it’s difficult for in-house teams to have the capacity to let someone with less experience take the same responsibilities, but she is a strong believer in intra and interdepartmental collaboration. She always encourages her teammates to speak up, share their input and take part in leading sections of a campaign.

The mentioned campaign, stemming from the ideas between her PR, brand and social media colleagues, is a great example of this. Jasmine also pointed out that to ensure a good brand messaging and a smooth customer experience, the significance of having efficient cross-department cooperation between logistics, customer service and even insurance agents cannot be diminished.

When asked about FTLife’s culture, Jasmine sums it up succinctly: “We treat our colleagues as brand ambassadors,” and that is perhaps the secret sauce that will help FTLife and its comms campaign succeed this year.