Kunal Kapoor stars as an HR honcho in Loop’s latest insurance ad

Insurance can be a tricky business, especially when it concerns a group of people. Insurance startup Loop Health’s latest ad is an over the top, dramatised version of this very sentiment.

Starring actor Kunal Kapoor, in an HR position, employees can be seen going crazy in the background of the ad, throwing files and jumping around in slow motion. Kapoor’s mouse hovers between two choices - group insurance with regular benefits and Loop insurance, which has added benefits.

Over a call, Amrit Singh, chief revenue officer at Loop, tells afaqs! that the company was launched in 2018. It is among the few health insurance practitioners that has an in-house medical professional team to cater to individual employees and their needs.

Singh observes that in India, around 20 per cent of people have health insurance and most prefer to seek this service under their respective employers. He adds that with many companies in India, the primary benefit is that if a person is hospitalised, he can claim a reimbursement, but the extent of care stops there. If he has to seek a consultation, or undergo a scan/test, or buy medicines, he is on his own.

“Right now, insurance is like a payment benefit you may get at the end of the healthcare process. We wanted to ensure that the entire process itself is covered by insurance.”

Singh says that even when people spend their personal money on healthcare, they aren’t necessarily getting the care they need at the right time.

“In our country, GPs are paid to treat patients when they fall ill, and that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re concerned with keeping a patient healthy. Our company provides insurance and primary care combined, and we hope that will make us stand apart from other companies.”

He acknowledges that insurance in India is a highly competitive market. But there are a few players that offer end to end coverage. Especially with services like physiotherapy and mental health, both of which have witnessed increased demand ever since COVID struck.

“As more people are spending more time sitting down and working from the same spot, there has been an increased demand for physiotherapy services. People have also been availing the services of our mental health practitioners to deal with the impacts of the pandemic.”

The organisations that have subscribed to Loop’s solutions include GE, Helpshift, Shoptimise, Weikfield and MSwipe.

Singh credits COVID for removing the mental block that many people had towards virtual physician consultations. “It’s gone to a level now where people are actually more comfortable with virtual consultations, than having to go to the clinic for a doctor’s appointment.”

Talking about the campaign, Singh mentions that Kapoor is a Loop user himself. Kapoor is the co-founder of Ketto, one of Asia’s largest crowdfunding platforms. Ketto provides fundraising assistance for the healthcare needs of millions of people.

Last year, Kapoor chose Loop as Ketto’s healthcare partner to provide supercharged health benefits for its 200-plus employees. Hence, bringing him on board for Loop’s latest campaign is quite natural. It also made sense that Kapoor portrayed an HR person in the ad - considering that this professional group is one of the brand’s main target audience.

Singh says digital is the primary communication medium that Loop plans to use for this campaign. The brand will not be going mass market with the campaign, as of now. The purpose of rebranding is to shift Loop’s image from a serious, to a digital-first and relevant brand.