The word from Simplyhealth as they shift their marketing up a gear;
Healthcare services and plan provider Simplyhealth has launched a new high profile, brand-led campaign focussed on the pressing need to simplify access to workplace health benefits – a move that marks a pivotal evolution in the company’s marketing strategy. With Simplyhealth’s roots dating back to 1872 – beginning as the Manchester & Salford Hospital Saturday Fund, providing workers with a way to pay for hospital care many decades before the NHS. To this day, the B-Corp continues to support the health of Britain with affordable health services and plans provided by employers to their workforce.
This campaign signals a strategic shift for the 150-year-old business, rebalancing the marketing investment to build long-term brand awareness while continuing to drive short-term performance marketing. By upweighting brand spend, Simplyhealth aims to deepen emotional connection and category awareness, while maintaining a strong focus on conversion and measurable outcomes through performance-led activity. A concerted focus on awareness building not only benefits Simplyhealth directly, but also employee benefit brokers who are critical distribution partners.
The brand campaign is built on extensive audience research, which identified the main barriers to accessing healthcare that Simplyhealth is committed to removing. Targeting a B2B audience segments of employee benefit brokers and corporate/SME decisionmakers, the campaign helps drive awareness and understanding in a category that often struggles for attention.
This digital-first media strategy employs advanced targeting to reach the niche audience both where they work and play, with a layered messaging strategy delivered at optimum frequencies. Paid media is supported by integration across owned and earned channels, and other paid activity lower down the funnel.
People struggle to access healthcare benefits: some require GP referrals or approval from management to access; they can be expensive and frequently exclude pre-existing conditions. By removing these barriers, Simplyhealth aims to improve access to health benefits at a time when securing a GP appointment, and accessing mental health support and MSK professionals is proving particularly challenging.
James Henderson, Sales and Marketing Director at Simplyhealth, said:
“For 150 years, we’ve been improving access to healthcare. As workplace wellbeing experts, we know the vital role employers play in supporting their employee’s health.
“We have made a deliberate decision to invest in our brand, increasing our overall spend and upweighting our focus on brand in sync with our existing performance activity to clearly articulate our proposition: simplifying health benefits to make them more accessible for employees and more affordable for employers. This evolution creates a flexible platform for long-term, sustainable growth to reach future audiences.
“At the heart of our strategy and the driving force behind the refreshed brand is a clear mission to ensure no one falls through the gaps in accessing healthcare.”
This comes at a time when three quarters of British employers (73%) now feel that it is their responsibility to look after their employees’ health due to long NHS waiting times. But, over half (53%) of employees have experienced barriers to accessing these benefits. Worryingly, a third (34%) of workers aren’t using any of their workplace health benefits at all.
Simplyhealth’s own research has found that over a third (37%) of employees say that simplifying health benefits would make them most likely to use them, followed by quick access to health services (36%) and cover for pre-existing conditions (22%). Simplyhealth’s brand-led marketing strategy comes as 2.8 million working age adults in Britain are out of work because of a long-term health condition, and more than 200,000 people left work specifically for health reasons in 2023-24.
In response, the government recently launched its 10-Year Plan for the NHS, aimed at improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes and ensuring the sustainability of the NHS – with Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, making the case for greater involvement from employers in the health of the nation.
Earlier this year, Simplyhealth launched a suite of new products to help make healthcare simple, affordable and accessible to the whole of the workforce – with access to 24/7 virtual GP, mental health and physio support. There is no need for referrals and customers can pay for services as they go.
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