Bupa: Driving Growth in Mass Affluent

The Challenge

In 2019, Bupa provided private health insurance in Mexico to predominantly high-net-worth individuals. But with a growing middle class, shifting attitudes to health, and a significant loss in coverage for government employees, an opportunity was emerging in the mass affluent market. Bupa wanted to be the first to break into it.

However, there were strong regional preconceptions to overcome and no model for success. They engaged with Sense Worldwide to help them develop a strategy and product propositions that would allow them to expand their customer base from 10 million to an estimated 60 million.

The Process

Sense Worldwide led an intensive 10-week engagement to align Bupa’s leadership team around a shared vision for growth. We began with a research amnesty and a collaborative in-person workshop with key stakeholders to break cognitive silos and generate new value propositions for the mass affluent segment.

Then, to ensure the propositions were robust and compelling, we ran two waves of research. The first was running asynchronous online tests of the initial value propositions, with a cohort of local lead users drawn from The Sense Network.

This feedback was used to refine the propositions and uncover initial insights. The second phase consisted of live online interviews with a selected sample of prospective consumers, alongside Bupa insurance brokers and other key stakeholders, to explore the revised propositions in depth. Based on this, the final value propositions were validated and finalised.

Key Results

Grounded in fresh expert and consumer insight, our collaboration with the Bupa team identified an untapped opportunity to fundamentally change how health insurance is perceived in Mexico – from a reactive safety net to a proactive wellness partner. Together, we designed and tested innovative propositions that would reduce reliance on unpopular brokers and traditional channels and focus on holistic care and digital accessibility.

This process translated into multiple tangible outputs: four major new health insurance products, a 24/7 digital health services app, and online emotional counselling platform were launched to reshape Bupa’s market offering.

Bupa annual revenue in Mexico surged from £15 million in 2020 to £203 million in 2023 – a 13.5× increase.

Bupa Mexico grew went from <1% of Bupa’s Europe/LatAm revenue to 4%

It has since been used as a model for similar successful rollouts by Bupa in Peru and Chile.

““The Sense Network and your unique methodology helped us better understand our future customers and create a healthcare experience connected to what people actually need.”

Karinna Damo, CMO, Bupa Mexico