Bowtie aims to 'debug' the complex insurance world with citywide campaign

Virtual Insurance Company Bowtie has launched a citywide campaign with the theme of "Debug Insurance", offering a wide range of online and offline touchpoints to showcase their ability to help customers access protection directly.

The company said played with numerous ideas on angles and taglines before officially launching this campaign, but eventually adopted the theme "Debug Insurance". "Our mission is to make insurance good again. We believe that insurance is fundamentally good, but it has become too complex and confusing to consumers, and the process has lots of bugs," said Martin Lee, assistant marketing manager - branding and creative at Bowtie.

He added that "debug" has two layers of meaning. First, it is the process of finding and resolving bugs to achieve a better outcome and a way of continuous advancement to provide a much better experience to consumers. Second, 'debug' is a word that originated from the tech sector, echoing Bowtie's business as a virtual insurance company that heavily relies on tech.

"This theme articulates the value that Bowtie, as a tech insurer, is bringing to the industry," Lee said.

The citywide campaign features influencer Kayan. Bowtie said her positive and energetic charisma through her works, as well as the representation of a new era of performance and entertainment have made her the main character of the campaign.

Moreover, the campaign, kicked off on 1 October, includes multiple online and offline touchpoints. It has rolled out a 30-second video on Instagram and Facebook, offering a colourful explosive effect to demonstrate how the company "breaks" the parts that customers may not need, such as pushy agents, face-to-face meetings, lengthy yet complicated processes.

The company has also launched OOH ads on the exteriors of buses, trams, taxis, at bus shelters, as well as billboards at Causeway Bay and Taikoo Place. Lee said as the company had noticed a rising trend in renting mobile chargers at convenience stores, Bowtie then collaborated with power bank rental service provider ChargeSPOT to place ads on the company's product.

Moreover, Bowtie will include the theme of "debug" in Bow coffee, a cafe operated by Bowtie located underneath its office, enabling customers to understand the "debug" attitude and how bowtie debugs insurance in a light-hearted and fun way.

The theme will also be seen as a long-term fixture for the brand with more future campaigns being centred it in the future. Looking ahead, co-founder and co-CEO of Bowtie Fred Ngan said, "We will continue promoting Bowtie as the number one online insurer and educating the public about the benefits of buying health insurance online. Since our launch in 2019, Bowtie has provided protection to over 45,000 customers and US$3.8 billion of insured value to families."

Apart from its insurance business, Bowtie is running caffe Bow Coffee, and preventive health clinic Bowtie & JP Health. Ngan said in the future, Bowtie will strengthen its physical presence to build brand trust.

Recently, Bowtie has received a new round of funding worth US$22.6 million led by Mitsui & Co, a Japanese trading firm and the largest shareholder in private healthcare services network IHH Healthcare Berhad, and existing investor Sun Life Hong Kong. With this latest funding round, Bowtie has its eye on scaling its operations to expand its operations across Asia and develop a value-based healthcare model by partnering closely with healthcare providers.

“This is our first investment in a health insurance company, which has long been the missing puzzle in our value-based healthcare ecosystem. We selected Bowtie for our shared vision of both making healthcare more accessible and affordable. Bowtie is one of the most promising insurtech startups in Asia with the ambition to disrupt health insurance through modern technology," said Koichiro Sato, CEO of Mitsui's subsidiary MBK Healthcare Management (Hong Kong Branch).

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