Tapping into TikTok connects teenagers with insurance – Startup Sherpas

Utilising video hosting service TikTok will be key if the UK insurance industry wishes to build better bonds with teenagers, according to social enterprise Startup Sherpas’ inaugural Protecting the Future report, published last week (11 October 2022).

Sponsored by Aviva, the report summarises 3,200 hours of paid work conducted by a diverse squad of 100 teenagers between 25 July and 21 August this year.

It provides insight into the insurance needs of future customers and a blueprint for attracting talent to the sector from generation alpha.

Generation alpha succeeds generation Z and includes children born in or after 2010.

In terms of attracting talent, the report highlighted that TikTok can be used to create explainers that answer why insurance is important – consisting of short, sharp and attention-grabbing content.

Using appropriate influencers to increase outreach is also a number one priority for the group.

In doing so, the report says that insurance firms can then attract teenage audiences to other social media platforms like YouTube, where viewers can be educated on the detailed mechanics of insurance through longer videos – like why a pay-per-use policy may be the best choice, for example.

In addition to TikTok, the 86-page report included a database of 740 ideas generated by the teenagers that could improve insurance.

‘Endless possibilities’

Discussing the innovations that the squad has created as part of the report, Hélène Stanway, president of Sense Consortium, said: “My favourite theme amongst all their brilliant ideas is the use of TikTok for a claims assessment.

”Could an insurer today settle a claim using TikTok? Unlikely. And yet, you could take a video of an incident via TikTok and an insurer could then duet a risk mitigation response for all to then see and also learn from.

“Or could we use TikTok to explain what insurance is, why it’s important and use gaming to improve risk?

“The future thinking is indeed bright if we can attract this talent and new thinking into our industry – hyperconnected, digitally native, networked individuals to create new insurance solutions, both services and products, alongside a gamified digital twin for risk engineering improvements?

“The possibilities are endless.”

Stanway further noted that she has found TikTok videos shaming companies who have not settled claims, which is “not great for brand reputation”.

One squad leader named Ruby, aged 16, said: “Insurers should be on TikTok, but they [need] to find the right influencer to get their message across. Just do really short explainers.”

Meanwhile, touching on the importance of the report, Startup Sherpas co-founder Hugo Pickford-Wardle, said: “We chose insurance for our first report because it carries the world’s risks and that mirrors our need to train the next generation of innovation talent, to solve the world’s hardest problems.”