AIA Life introduces ‘Buddy,’ a real-life health assistant

Following positive feedback on its mobile health vitality program introduced last year, the Korean arm of AIA Life Insurance said Monday it will offer an upgraded version where a health consultant called “Buddy” coaches clients to lead healthier lives.

The AIA Vitality app, made available last year, required clients to walk a certain amount of steps per day, as counted by the app.

If the client fulfilled the daily quota, the insurer provided benefits, such as discounted insurance or coupons for coffee.

In the new AIA Vitality Buddy program introduced Monday, a human touch is added. An insurance planner who has received health-related education gets in contact with the client to provide more personalized health tips and remind them of daily targets.

“We expect the benefits the clients will take away from us will increase because the ‘buddy’ will remind them of what they need to do more to fulfill their daily requirement,” said an official from the insurance company.

The local unit of AIA Life Insurance said the match between a buddy and a client would not be random, but would be considerate of the client’s gender and age to offer more comfortable service.

The AIA Vitality app has accumulated 1.5 million subscribers since its launch last year in July.

By Jin Eun-soo