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Norwich Union

Title: Thrive
Target: 135,000 policyholders under- and over-55
Key aim: To deliver authoritative and engaging editorial
Pagination and frequency: 32 pages, B2C quarterly
Format: Saddle-stitched A4 magazine

Norwich Union's testimonial

Norwich Union Healthcare, an AVIVA company, is the UK’s third largest health insurer. In an increasingly competitive market it has to ensure it is a highly visible brand and that it continues to grow while retaining the loyalty of current policyholders.

The challenge set by Norwich Union Healthcare (NUHC) was to communicate with policyholders as an authority on healthcare and well-being, while delivering accessible and engaging editorial. The magazine had to engage a diverse audience of over 130,000 who receive the magazine three times a year.

Download a sample page (PDF) from this magazine

To target these customers efficiently the magazine was segmented into two versions – one for the over-55s and one for under-55s. This enabled the magazine to speak more directly to the audience about issues that were key to them and their families.

Atom divided the editorial into three broad areas:

Marketing-focused, aimed at customer retention and delivering quality news and features about the brand, services and products of Norwich Union Healthcare
Health-driven with a call to action to Norwich Union Healthcare services
General health and lifestyle editorial keeping the readers abreast of topical issues in the healthcare industry, such as research findings, healthcare news and updates.

The editorial content and look of the two versions of the magazine have to be modern and relevant to the specific audience and able to compete with the myriad health and well-being magazines of other insurers and those on every newsstand. The design is open and imaginative with commissioned illustrations and shoots in every issue. The relaxed tone of each version puts readers at ease about medical issues with a breadth of information and advice.

Thrive is designed to uplift the readers with the energy of its design and editorial. NUHC want them to feel secure in the knowledge that their health and well-being is a top priority for NUHC. It re-affirms NUHC’s position as a leader in the industry and reminds the reader of the benefits of choosing and maintaining health insurance with NUHC.

NUHC and Atom jointly conduct annual research and ongoing tactical monitoring of editorial promotions. Research conducted at the end of 2004 showed:

Two-thirds of readers read all or most of Thrive
More than 70% felt that the articles were relevant to them
90% of readers agreed that Thrive kept them up to date with health issues
Almost 70% of readers said that Thrive made them feel NUHC was relevant to them.

The summer 2005 issue of Thrive carried an entertaining and informative piece of investigative journalism on the NUHC’s GP Helpline, in both versions. This had a marked effect on the use of the service and NUHC saw a 13% increase in calls to the GP helpline over the previous year.

Atom has produced the magazine for NUHC policyholders for more than 10 years, and put this success down to the relationship with Norwich Union and a sound understanding of their objectives, market and target reader.