Challenges and Objectives

Benenden Health makes private healthcare more accessible against a backdrop of NHS strain – yet in a noisy, increasingly price-led category, that offer was easier to overlook than it should have been. The brand had been off air for four months and bigger rivals were spending harder. With the cost of buying 1% share of voice in healthcare up 60% since 2022, the stakes were high. Benenden needed to rebuild fame, strengthen trust and create demand among younger consumers, families and employers – bringing the ‘Healthcare Done Different’ promise to life through media.

Idea & Implementation

Everything is fine—until it isn't. When health concerns pause life, we decided to pause television. Rather than a traditional ad break, we used interruption as the core idea: at the most gripping moments, the action froze, and trusted talent stepped in to shift the focus from the screen to the viewer's wellbeing. Our platform, "Press Play on Your Health," turned the experience of a TV disruption into a powerful nudge to get health concerns back on track.

Targeting Strategy

• Launch & Signature Event

  • National Television Awards Takeover: Froze the broadcast at television’s biggest celebration of the year, with AJ Odudu appearing within the interruption to pivot viewers from entertainment to health awareness.

• Integrated Programming

  • Embedded the 'pause' mechanic into high-investment shows using key talent to match each programme’s specific tone:

    • Reality: AJ Odudu brought energy and pace to Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.

    • Daytime: Ruth Langsford brought warmth and trust.

    • Drama: Will Mellor provided a credible bridge to employer audiences.

• ITV Platform & Tech Integration

  • Continuity: Disrupted live viewing by inserting the pause during continuity announcements.

  • ITVX: Deployed bespoke Pause Ads that triggered automatically the moment viewers physically paused their content.

• Beyond-the-Screen Community Engagement

  • Women’s Network Partnership: Extended the campaign off-air, with Benenden experts leading live discussions on critical health issues, including menopause and the gender health gap.

• Iterative Optimisation

  • Data-Driven Refinement: Used System1 testing between campaign bursts to sharpen the creative. This allowed the team to maintain entertainment tension, refine the reveal, and concentrate investment where the Press Play messaging generated the highest impact.

Client Quote

“ITV didn’t just give us airtime – they gave us a behaviour. Pausing the nation’s

favourite shows reset our awareness and brought new members to a 120-year-old mutual.”

Natalie Wakert, Head of Brand, Benenden Health