As one of the most promising and fast-growing insurance markets in Asia, Vietnam presents significant opportunities. In an interview with Tuoi Tre News, Stuart A. Spencer, Group Chief Marketing Officer of AIA, shares the company’s strategy to deepen its presence in the market by aligning with customers through a shared commitment to 'Healthier, Longer, Better Lives.'

AIA’s purpose of Healthier, Longer, Better Lives

Today, when people think of AIA, many associate the brand not only with insurance but also with healthy living. As Group Chief Marketing Officer, why has AIA chosen 'Healthier, Longer, Better Lives' as its long-term purpose?

Traditional insurance has often been associated primarily with risk protection and claims. At AIA, however, we believe our role is broader and more meaningful. We exist to walk alongside people throughout their lives, not only when something goes wrong.

Observing the last 30 years in Asia, we’ve seen rapid social change and economic development. If you look at the skyline of Ho Chi Minh City today compared to 30 years ago, it’s unrecognizable. There have been massive transformation, huge capital accumulation, and rising incomes.

However, I believe there is still not enough focus on health and wellness – on taking care of oneself. As people get richer, they often become more sedentary. That’s why I say: wealthier, but not healthier.

In the background, there has been a dramatic rise in non-communicable diseases, otherwise known as lifestyle diseases, contributing to 80 percent of all disease diagnoses today in Asia. Heart attacks, strokes, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and chronic lung disease are what we call lifestyle diseases.

These are largely caused by basic factors in modern society, such as lack of exercise, poor diet, smoking and drinking, stress, etc. All of these lifestyle diseases are preventable by their nature.

If you’re the largest life and health insurer in the region, surely, you’re going to do something to improve these circumstances. We must do everything possible to improve the physical, mental, and financial wellness of our customers – so they can live our purpose: Healthier, Longer, Better Lives.

Everyone likes that idea. But at AIA, this is not a marketing slogan. It is not a tagline. It governs everything we do. It gives 30,000 AIA employees across 18 markets in Asia clarity and unity. One AIA community. One AIA family. One AIA purpose.

Every product we design, every communication we deliver, and every customer engagement must contribute to our purpose of 'Healthier, Longer, Better Lives.'

It’s AIA’s purpose of helping people live 'Healthier, Longer, Better Lives.' But how are you bringing that purpose to your customer?

We’ve built an ecosystem to support this purpose. But it’s not enough to say it, we must demonstrate it.

First, we look at how people are defining ‘healthy.' There is a tendency to define ‘healthy’ through a single, narrow lens. This can unintentionally create pressure and unrealistic expectations, particularly for younger generations.

Our research showed that many Asian consumers perceive healthy living as difficult and inaccessible. That insight led us to launch Rethink Healthy in 2024. The campaign challenges narrow definitions of health and invites people to see wellness as inclusive, achievable, and personal.

This year, we are advancing Rethink Healthy to the next phase through releasing findings from our new study, which reveals how cultural stereotypes and social expectations shape attitudes and behaviors.

Through Rethink Healthy, AIA promotes a more inclusive and human-centered understanding of health, one that encompasses physical health, mental well-being, financial security, and the quality of the environment in which people live and thrive.

The other important component of this ecosystem is AIA Vitality. AIA Vitality is a structured wellness system, a digital application designed around three principles: know your health, improve your health, get rewarded.

We understand that people need incentives and motivation to change habits and behaviors. Our focus is behavioral change. If behaviors don’t change, poor diet, inactivity, smoking, and stress will continue.

So we help customers take better care of themselves. And if they do, we take better care of them.

AIA Vitality is also designed around principles of behavioral economics. We understand that people don’t always make decisions in perfectly rational ways – they’re influenced by things like loss aversion, bias and the behaviors of people around them. By structuring rewards, tiers, and community features in a way that works with these natural tendencies, AIA Vitality helps people stay engaged, motivated, and committed to healthier habits over time.

Insurers look for future healthier customers

There is also the initiative of AIA Healthiest Schools. Why has AIA chosen schools as one of the starting points for its healthy living initiatives?

We are deeply committed to helping people live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives. And we realized that to truly achieve that, we need to engage communities early, especially children, and help shape healthy behaviors from a young age.

In 2022, AIA launched AIA Healthiest Schools because we were seeing children facing health challenges far too young, issues ranging from nutrition and inactivity to stress and anxiety.

Schools are uniquely powerful environments: they shape daily routines, influence beliefs and behaviors, and provide a safe space to build lifelong habits around eating well, moving more, caring for mental well-being, and respecting the environment.

Research is very clear: when children establish healthy habits early in life, they carry those habits into adulthood. Simply put, we want the next generation to be healthier than the generations before them.

But let me be clear: we are not selling insurance to these children. There is no commercial motive. This is about doing the right thing, with the right partners, in the right way. We are investing in Vietnam’s future generation to help build the right mindset and behaviors, and to strengthen both physical and mental resilience.

We learned that young people need support and safe access points where they can express themselves. For example, one school in Vietnam introduced art therapy, where students used drawing and painting to visualize and release stress and anxiety.

Research from the program shows clear impact, with more than 90 percent of the students reporting improved attitudes, knowledge or intended behaviors related to healthy living.

If you visit these schools and speak with students, they will tell you they now better understand the importance of being healthy. Many say they have even influenced their parents to take better care of themselves. They understand the value of healthy choices and feel they have grown personally through these initiatives.

It is a powerful reminder of why we start in schools. Early prevention helps build healthier behaviors long before lifestyle‑related diseases take root and it inspires young people to become lifelong champions of Healthier, Longer, Better Lives.

What makes Vietnam a unique market for AIA? How is the market playing a role in AIA’s regional strategies?

Vietnam is a demographic and economic powerhouse. It is not just a growth market – its young population, rising middle class, and increasing health consciousness create strong long-term demand, while life insurance penetration remains relatively low.

In Vietnam, insurance has already demonstrated its role in supporting macroeconomic stability and social security, and the market is considered to have significant potential. Strong demand, combined with community engagement, reinforces the power of being a purpose-led organization that delivers societal value while meeting real needs.

Over the past 26 years in Vietnam, AIA’s most important principle has been placing customers at the heart of everything we do, and building long-term relationships grounded in trust and companionship.

Vietnam is also an instrumental market in helping us advance our ambition of AIA One Billion – to engage one billion people across Asia to live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives by 2030.

There are several examples from AIA Vitality to AIA Healthiest Schools, where Vietnam has been an enthusiastic early adopter and a consistent source of innovation and impact.

As we look ahead, Vietnam will continue to be a platform for social impact, helping us expand the reach and depth of AIA One Billion across the region.

Looking ahead 5-10 years, what do you hope to see from Vietnam’s younger generation in terms of health and lifestyle?

I hope we’ll see a generation in Vietnam that embraces a proactive, balanced approach to health, one that values physical activity, good nutrition, emotional well-being, and a connection with others.

Schools across Vietnam are already demonstrating what is possible when children are equipped with the knowledge and encouragement they need to lead.

I hope young people see healthy living not as a set of rules, but as a personal, lifelong journey – something they shape for themselves, with confidence and curiosity.

When students participate in initiatives like AIA Healthiest Schools, they start to recognize their own power to influence their families, peers, and communities.

And finally, I hope Vietnam’s young people grow into positive agents of change – leaders who understand that small choices made early can transform their future. When more children are empowered to take charge of their health, entire communities thrive. That is the future we want to help build.