Innovation Case: Manulife
In 2019, the insurance multinational Manulife launched Manulife Vault, an online game with a retirement plan worth SGD 250,000 as the grand prize. It’s a simple game where players repeat from memory a sequence of flashing buttons displayed randomly across three levels of difficulty. Players are rewarded with a virtual currency called Manulife Dollars every time they win. After the 4-week game period, the top 32 finalists with the most Manulife dollars were selected to compete for the top 3 prizes at the grand finale at Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport.
The trends and opportunities, as I see them, below:
GAME ON. Play is a major business opportunity. Millions of global consumers now live in the world of gaming and their spending is predicted to exceed USD 200 billion by 2023. The Manulife Vault not only taps into a growing culture of gaming, it helps the company break through to a saturated audience with a new approach to insurance. As consumers spend more time in immersive and participatory media, brands must follow suit.
PLAY TO ADULT. Very few young adults have a retirement plan in place. Some think they still have a long way to go, while others don’t know where or how to start. In the US, one in three Baby Boomers has less than USD 25,000 saved for retirement. Nobody should bank on winning a jackpot to secure retirement funds so Manulife is being more than a little irreverent to raise awareness.
So, let’s forget the doom and gloom, here’s to making insurance fun!
