#MarketingExcellenceAwards SG 2021 highlights: AIA leaves no stone unturned in its CSR strategy

Like many businesses, the pandemic saw AIA Singapore activating its crisis management and survival mode to maintain business continuity. Amidst increasing pressure to ensure that all investments were delivering business results, AIA realised its CSR commitments were under threat and would need to take a backseat or be reaccessed. 

Across the industry, insurers also faced intensifying scrutiny. Furthermore, with the legal battles that were happening with insurers and claimants, AIA Singapore was determined to not repeat the same mistake. Hence, the insurer unveiled its "Mission in HLBL in a Crisis" campaign, aiming to face the challenges of the pandemic head-on and stand out from its competitors. This resulted in AIA Singapore clinching the silver award for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore 2021. 

Challenge 

Aside from the pandemic, AIA also faced increasing external pressures from other fronts. In the health insurance segment, AIA had to deal with the added pressure of escalating medical inflation that was causing a growing rift between healthcare providers and insurers over the issue of healthcare affordability. To make these challenges even more complicated, AIA witnessed several C-suite changes at the height of the pandemic involving the appointment of a new CEO and a refresh of the executive committee. This new leadership faced the tough challenge of keeping the organisation aligned, connected, and engaged during a crisis. 

Aware of the challenges it faced, AIA decided to face the crisis head-on by viewing this as an opportunity to rise to the occasion and stand out from its competitors and dispel misconceptions. First, AIA sought to revisit its CSR commitments, deprioritising the nice-to-haves and doubling down on initiatives that would make a tangible difference. The insurer then moved on to remove distractions to bring greater coherence to its CSR strategy by going back to core beliefs and leading by example. 

Targeting young aspires and families, AIA also sought to stand out as the insurer of choice. Before moving on to its target audience, the insurer decided to focus on its employee, ensuring that the staff was aware that AIA prioritised their well-being during this difficult time. While business gains were not the main goal, the insurer also saw the importance to ensure a healthy business foundation to support its commitment to the community. 

Strategy 

The strategy and mandate to enable healthier, longer, and better lives for everyone, including its people, was rooted in the very way AIA does business. That meant moving away from the traditional transaction-focused insurance model to one that resulted in the insurer becoming a trusted partner for every stage of life. To achieve this, the insurer mapped out three key points. 

Firstly, AIA had to hold itself accountable to a new transformational, long-term ESG strategy to maximise value brought to the wider community. In recent years, the insurer has become a leader in taking the most comprehensive approach to health and wellness. Taking a similar holistic approach to mapping its CSR initiatives, the insurer sought to look at the impact across ESG parameters. This, in turn, led to a new ESG strategy that was launched in 2021. 

Next, was to connect its audiences to something that was bigger than themselves, enabling these individuals to contribute to a wider purpose. According to AIA, this was a strong message that the insurer has been using to rally individuals together. Furthermore, it ensured that the organisation and its people were aligned. The insurer first saw the merit of this rallying method when the pandemic hit in 2019, as individuals were hit with a strong reminder of what matters most and to not take their health for granted. 

Lastly, AIA aimed to provide physical and mental support to its audiences. "There is another pandemic that gets less attention but is no less devasting," said the insurer. The economic downturn continues to be overwhelming on people’s mental health, leading to fears and anxiety about the future. This is especially strong in the insurance world and is often not recognised as a legitimate health condition. 

Execution 

To combat the issues its consumers faced, AIA rolled out a series of campaigns and initiatives to tackle these challenges. Aiming to nurture a culture that champions empathy, the insurer released its #EmbracingNewNorms campaign to support consumers at different stages of the evolving pandemic situation. These benefits ranged from free COVID-19 coverage to free access to teleconsultation services. Additionally, the insurer kickstarted a #ShareTheLove moment to remind its stakeholders of the different roles played in different communities. The funds for the campaign and initiative were then given to two adopted charities, as part of the insurer's commitment to do its part for the community. 

Whereas on the economic front, AIA Singapore rolled out a "Resilience Mindset" programme in 2020, which comprised of a training course that aimed to improve the mental well-being of employees. The programme was aimed to combat the mental issues individuals faced in terms of unemployment and retrenchment. To that end, the insurer also created 500 new career opportunities with the launch of its AIA Financial Career Scheme 2020, equipping fresh graduates and mid-career switches the skillset to pursue a new career path. Financial support up to SG$5,000 per month was also provided to qualifying individuals. 

Aside from tackling challenges on the health and economic front, AIA took a step further by focusing on the environment. With its new green pledge, the insurer committed more than SG$5 million to the NParks registered charity, Garden City Fund, to plant trees in Singapore’s nature reserves over the next five years. "Our contribution is the largest by an organisation to NParks’ OneMillionTrees movement, which aims to plant more than a million trees across Singapore over the next 10 years as we transform into a City in Nature," explained the insurer.

Results 

In the first half of 2021, AIA Singapore reported resilient business performance, with more than 6% growth in operating profit and a 32% increase in the value of new business. Furthermore, there was a reported double-digit growth in AIA Singapore's corporate solutions segments.