John Hancock life insurance provider is offering a deal for members of its Vitality program. Members can get an Apple Watch Series 3, which is the newest model, for just US$25. There are additional fees if you choose the LTE model or more expensive models.
Vitality Apple Watch
The Vitality program is a way to earn rewards and save on insurance premiums by living a healthy lifestyle. One of these rewards is now the Apple Watch Series 3. According to the stipulations, as long as you exercise regularly for two years, you can keep the watch for free. If you don’t exercise, members will have to pay it off in installments.
Manulife, which owns John Hancock, first offered Apple Watches to members several years ago. Only members who bought life insurance policies over US$2 million could get one though. The program was successful, and the company saw a 20% increase in activity. Now all U.S. members of the program can benefit.
Brooks Tingle, senior vice president of John Hancock, said about half of the members who got a watch reached their monthly exercise goals. Because of this they didn’t need to pay for it. Since John Hancock is the first life insurer in the U.S. to offer an Apple Watch, the company is hoping that it will attract new customers.
Brooks also said that the company takes privacy seriously. There are safeguards in place to protect Apple Watch data from getting to the wrong hands. This includes employers who might penalize workers.
Andrew:
This is a fantastic story, and lends substance and external validity to Apple’s stated goal of making products that benefit people’s lives. It’s not merely that people are behaving a certain way in order to earn a material reward, the reward itself (the material object) is modifying behaviour is ways that benefit people. This is a very creative use of the AW by an insurance provider.
Because of the impact on their bottom line, I suspect we will see emulation amongst their competitors, but more importantly, other sectors whose business involves incentivising behaviour change doing so as well.