AIA Philam Life Hackers 2020: Gen Zs hacktivate to help Filipinos live healthier, longer and better lives!

AIA Philam Life, the country’s premier life insurance company, recently concluded AIA Philam Life Hackers 2020 where students with the best and brightest ideas proposed game-changing solutions to help AIA Philam Life fulfill its mission of racing against risk and empower Filipinos to live Healthier, Longer, and Better Lives.

College and university students 18 years old and above from all over the Philippines were invited to join the second AIA Philam Life Hackers and challenged them to come up with innovative tech, product, or marketing solution that will address the problem statement “How can AIA Philam Life insure and protect more Filipinos at a faster rate, concretizing its brand promise of helping people live healthier, longer and better lives?” With over 400 students making up 87 teams rising to the challenge, representing 85 schools across the country, the hackathon generated game-changing proposals that strongly reflect the concerns of the Gen Z.

AIA Philam Life Hackers 2020 was held on a virtual platform this year from November 27 to December 4, with leaders from the Philam Group and guest experts in various fields sharing their knowledge to help the students hack the problem statement. Grace David, leader of Marketing & Partnership at Edukasyon.ph, Joan Magno, product expert of Canva, Martin Gonzales, leader of Organizational Development and StartUp at Google, and Nicholas Chen, Managing Director from Accenture, led the line-up, joined by subject matter experts within the Philam Group who shared their expertise on the various aspects of the life insurance industry.

Last year, AIA Philam Life held a 36-hour on-site hackathon where college students were challenged to come up with solutions for the brand. This year, the hackathon was expanded to a seven-day event for students, shifting to an online platform in consideration of social distancing measures due to the pandemic.

Awareness on insurance and educating others through technology
Choosing the category where they will pitch an entry was one of the most difficult parts of the competition, shared one of the participants, as some of them have never joined a hackathon before. In the end, teams with the best ideas emerged victorious.

Guided by the problem statement, the winning “Breakthrough in Technology” team proposed the Philam iLinksuper app, accessible for free anytime to everyone, including non-customers. It includes all information about AIA Philam Life, and its existing platforms and applications, with additional access to learning materials in various formats (PDF, PPT, Video Presentations, etc.). Aside from the information it can provide, it also has an online game that entertains while teaching users how to save money and avail insurance. Equipped with Voice Biometrics and Virtual Assistant, users will only need to say the question to get the information required. The proposal came from Team FinHackers, composed of Alberto Jose Maricaban, Richron Brix Mercado, Andrea Jane Barua, Kirsten Joyce Roberts, and John Henry Villa, students from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, who brought home the P75,000 cash prize.

Meanwhile, Team Future Proof bagged the “Breakthrough in Marketing Solution”award, bringing home P75,000, plus an additional P25,000 for its runner up finish in their pitch for the Technology category. The team proposed a three-part marketing activation launch of P20 microinsurance to be sold via e-commerce, using fintech apps to ensure greater reach of insurance. Team Future Proof’s holistic marketing campaign is aligned with AIA Philam Life’s shift to digital, and will be housed in one app called "My Philam" where people can inquire, apply, and monitor the insurance product they bought.

“With the accelerated shift towards digital, people now incorporate shopping, entertainment, and even billing activities with their mobile apps. With our proposal of a centralized app, our goal is for the application process, product selection, and even Vitality features to be integrated in one single app so people who are curious about Philam will be able to enjoy some of the app’s features even before they purchase anything,” explained Jemar Luczon, team leader of Future Proof. Team Future Proof is a five-member team from the Diliman area, with Jemar Luczon, Rachel Roxas, Kyle Jureidini and Simon Lomibao from the University of the Philippines Diliman, and Moreen Agustin from the Ateneo de Manila University as members.

When asked what lessons they learned after joining this year’s AIA Philam Life Hackers, John Lemuel Melaya of Team Chicken Wings said, “Joining Life Hackers 2020 definitely equipped us with knowledge about the importance of being insured so we can enjoy living our lives.”

“It was an unexpected experience that we had. I remembered praying a few days ago for a worthy experience and without a doubt, God provided,” added Allysa-Nicole Oabel, Team Chicken Wings’ group leader.

The Team proposed Bente para kay Phiggy, named after the combination of “Phi” for Philam and “ggy” from piggy bank, a student financial program that covers life insurance with returns of premium at maturity. The coverage highlights insurance and student discount that can be converted to investments, in partnership with different institutions. Team Chicken Wings from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and represented by Princess Cajigal, Alyssa-Nicole Oabel, John Lemuel Melaya, Zhyna Diche and Shaira Olan won the “Breakthrough in Products/Service Innovation” award, with a P75,000 cash prize.

Team Psychology Society and Team 123 each received P25,000 in cash as runners up under the Product/Service Innovation and Marketing Solution categories, respectively. Team Psychology Society, made up of Tracy Anne Pangilinan, Honeylyn Besañez, Raquel Sarah Dimazana, Patricia Gail Po and Alquin Ignacio, represented Our Lady of Fatima University while Team 123 was represented by John Marc Dimailig, Mary Joanne Batuampo, Florence Allaine Belarmino, Recca Jane Illustrisimo and Alvin Malonzo from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

The AIA Philam Life Hackers 2020 was sponsored by SGV & Co, and in partnership with Accenture, ADA, Garmin, McDonald’s, Nexxus Technology, Paynamics, Publicis Groupe, Quality Kiosk, and Teleperformance.

All the teams that participated during the AIA Philam Life Hackers 2020 have full ownership of the ideas, concepts, and solutions that were proposed during the hackathon.