How Vitality reinvented its brand mascot to become a health ‘champion’

Health and life insurance brand Vitality faced a series of challenging market conditions in 2023. With inflation and high interest rates compounding the cost of living crisis, many consumers had come to see health insurance as an unaffordable luxury.

Vitality aimed to achieve a set of highly ambitious growth targets for its 2023/2024 financial year, but it needed a new strategy to re-energise its brand and shift public perceptions about their health choices.

Working with advertising agency VCCP, Vitality saw it needed to adopt a ‘champion mentality’ and stand for progress by promising to get people’s health moving forward at a time when they felt stuck.

Central to this approach was the reinvention of Vitality’s brand mascot, Stanley the dachshund. Previously, Stanley had been a brand detractor whose life had become a misery since his owner “got active” through Vitality – a humourous way of establishing the brand’s challenger status.

For the new campaign ‘Move forward with Vitality’, Stanley became the champion of big adventures. He swam across lakes, glided down slides and bagged himself the winner in a Sunday League football game.

By providing a renewed sense of momentum, the campaign enabled Vitality to convey more information about its holistic and preventative health approach, and how it could make a difference in people’s lives.

Running across TV, BVOD, social and sports perimeter boards, the campaign resulted in a six-percentage point increase in brand consideration, supporting significant growth for the business. Vitality also became the number one recalled brand among insurance advisers, helping it claim the 2024 Marketing Week Award for Financial Services.