He said now that more partnership arrangements are under negotiation with health insurers the “critical mass” should be there to fund a concerted marketing effort in 2014.
In February VSP Neighbourhood Eyecare announced a partnership with HBF, a health insurer based in Western Australia with 900,000 members. “Since then we have signed with two more health insurers and negotiations are underway with a number of others,” said Mr. Lewis.
One year after partnering with Medibank Private, Mr. Lewis said the timing had been “unfortunate because Medibank has been focused on its acquisition strategy in preparation for its IPO (Initial Public Offering). They have been focused on building new members rather than driving benefits to existing members – it’s unfortunate that was the case but the fact of the matter is that we’re here for the long distance.”
Mr. Lewis said test marketing had shown a combination of mailers, television and print advertising worked to promote VSP but direct marketing from health insurers was the most powerful medium.
