Humana, a leading health insurance provider, has launched a new campaign that spotlights the fast-growing sport of pickleball, just in time for the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour event in San Clemente, California.
Created by agency Brownstein Group, the “Invite” campaign targets seniors across various fitness levels with messaging focused on staying active, connected, and engaged.
The campaign spans major sports networks including ESPN2, CBS Sports, and the Tennis Channel, and will extend through December across television, social media, digital platforms, and print publications.
Here’s what iSpot’s Creative Assessment platform revealed on actual viewer response to the :30 spot.
The Details:
- While not particularly connective with viewers 50+ vs other medical insurance ads, the :30 “Get Moving” did find stronger resonance among followers of many sports, confirming the need to air the spot during such programming:
- The rise of pickleball among younger viewers was reflected in the ad’s ability to connect with the 21-35 crowd most successfully—and particularly women.
Among viewers 50+ specifically:
- “Get Moving” struggled in the areas of Likeability and Relevance with viewers 50+ but this reflected a lack of Information in the creative as well as the still somewhat limited but growing relatability of the sport itself with the broader boomer audience:
- The lack of Information sparked some negative emotion among older viewers, but the creative successfully cemented the Humana name among 87% of this target who were able to recall the brand (unaided) after a single exposure.
- The visuals and music stood out at disproportionately higher rates vs other medical insurance ads (vs past year benchmark), while the sense that nothing (“none”) made a strong impression also rose above the average category ad.
- Viewer intent among 50+ viewers trailed norms by -5 pts, linked to the sense that the ad did not tell the audience anything specific about Humana or its offering.
- However, many older viewers also appreciated the portrayal of active people in their age group and responded very positively to that portrayal and the message of active lifestyles. As such, the campaign may consider layering in a bit more information about the availability of medical insurance in forward ads (or through quick edits) to resolve the confusion some experienced.
- The lack of Information sparked some negative emotion among older viewers, but the creative successfully cemented the Humana name among 87% of this target who were able to recall the brand (unaided) after a single exposure.
Sample comments among viewers 50+ on “Get Moving” :30
“Pickleball. This is fun to see. Teams playing pickleball. Makes me want to search to join a club that offers such a sport. Although Humana isn’t a company about sports, it certainly taught me that they sponsor professional pickleball tournaments. Now I have to tune in, get involved, and find where to watch. I’m sure Humana will have their logos surrounding the courts.”
Male 50+
“I believe this healthcare company is correct to emphasize that exercise is primary to remain healthy.”
Female 50+
“No idea, because Humana is healthcare and the actors were playing pickleball…”
Male 50+
“It doesn’t make sense to what product is about without the name being shown.”
Female 50+
“Good for Humana for being so hip and realistically so. I like the direction they’re trying to move their image to because basically, they’re showing that seniors are still young inside and sometimes outside. Very good ad campaign.”
Female 50+
“Humana is an insurance company. The ad had nothing to do with health insurance. It was leaning sports rather than insurance.”
Male 50+
“I really wouldn’t pay attention to it. I’m not into sports, so seeing people play tennis will not catch my attention.”
Female 50+
“I guess it is riding on the current popularity of pickleball to underscore that activity is good for your health.”
Female 50+
“I think showing mature people doing what we do is a huge plus in helping to make a statement…we are not all at home or in rocking chairs. Good message; many at our age are very active.”
Female 50+
“Other than Humana sponsorship of PPA, what does it have to do with healthcare?”
Male 50+
“Wouldn’t know what they were advertising. Very confusing.”
Female 50+
- The ad’s resonance improved significantly among 50+ viewers who were followers of most national sports leagues indicating that broad audience media would not be as effective as remaining in sports programming:
- NA indicates small sample sizes among viewers 50+.
- For the 50+ audience, this campaign has delivered relatively few national linear Impressions per iSpot media measurement from 6/20/25-7/11/25:
- The campaign also accounted for less than 2% of brand Impressions delivered on streaming over this same period
- Over the most recent 90 days, UnitedHealthcare connected quite successfully with boomers via a :15 Medicare spot focusing on the assurance their coverage provides, allowing consumers to “Focus on What Matters”:
- Meanwhile, Kaiser Permanente also found strong success through a message of collaborative medical care for patients in their network.
- The United Healthcare spot achieved quick breakthrough (Attention and Likeability) through the inclusion of a dog. While not overly informative, the ad gave enough to be clear and Relevant.
- Kaiser’s spot featured two physicians speaking to the camera which not unsurprisingly struggled in the breakthrough area but informed very successfully with new and relevant messaging.
- Meanwhile, Kaiser Permanente also found strong success through a message of collaborative medical care for patients in their network.
- The most persuasive of the three spots was the Medicare-specific UnitedHealthcare creative, which sparked increased purchase/visit intent among 45% of those 50+ (to outpace audience norms by +8 pts):
- “Get Moving” outpaced the Kaiser spot in this regard despite trailing overall category averages. While informative and relatable, the Kaiser message conveyed did not spark action within this audience (it was not specific to Medicare coverage).
- The most persuasive Humana ad over the past year to the 50+ audience was the Medicare Advantage Plans specific “Stacey Carter” :60 which increased consideration among 47% in this audience segment:
- With rich historical data, iSpot modeled the past three years of Humana ads to break down the key creative KPIs behind those driving stronger consideration within the gen pop audience:
- The Optimal Profile below (on the right side of the chart in blue) reveals that Information and to a lesser extent, Relevance, have been the key creative KPI’s that has set high-performing Humana ads apart.
- Breakthrough (Attention and Likeability) and Change were not nearly as contributive. This is not to say that Humana’s ads are not necessarily likeable, but rather, Likeability was not a distinguishing characteristic of higher intent creatives.
- “Get Moving” significantly trailed the brand’s Optimal Profile on the key creative KPI’s. As such, on the left side of the chart, this :30 spot placed in the lower left-hand quadrant of brand ads, signaling it would not be expected to deliver a high intent impact within the broad audience.
- Armed with this information on each of the brand’s creatives (ads can be pretested to confirm potential even before airing), Humana’s media team is empowered to allocate budget accordingly to optimize business results.
- These results can also provide powerful insight into future creative briefs.
- Note that other brands will have their own unique Optimal profiles.
- The Optimal Profile below (on the right side of the chart in blue) reveals that Information and to a lesser extent, Relevance, have been the key creative KPI’s that has set high-performing Humana ads apart.
Advertisers need to identify the creative that will drive business outcomes and ensure that in-market execution aligns against the highest potential ads.
Schedule a demo to find out how your brand can partner with iSpot to quickly solve both challenges simultaneously, delivering high-performing creative while boosting the effectiveness of planning and in-market execution to achieve—and outperform—campaign objectives.
Creative Agency: Johannes Leonardo