• by Les Luchter , July 3, 2025

“People call me man’s best friend, but what if your health plan members had a best friend helping them get healthier every month?” says Stanley the Dachshund in a :30 spot from Vitality, which provides employers and insurers with tools designed to foster healthy consumer behavioral change -- for example, programs incentivizing preventive tests.

For health plans, using Vitality results in a 4% reduction in claims, according to the commercial. And for employers, Vitality CMO Keith Kropman tells Marketing Daily, it can mean “4.4 more productive working days per employee per year.” 

Stanley has been unleashed in the U.S. following a decade of success in the U.K., where Vitality also runs its own insurance business.

The “Health’s Best Friend”  campaign is Vitality’s largest-ever here, where the brand has been working with clients like John Hancock for at least 10 years.

The hero :30, cutdown videos and static ads created by VCCP, are running across LinkedIn, as well as display advertising across media platforms including the Financial Times, Fierce Network, and FT’s Health Payer Specialist. Walk-In Media handles media planning and buying.

“This launch phase will run for an initial three-month run,” says Kropman, but Stanley “isn’t going anywhere and will feature in our U.S. marketing going forward.” He explains that the dog “is being embedded into all our brand and marketing.” That will even include personal appearances, with Kropman explaining that Stanley “is a beloved part of our brand. Even our CEO has four of his own dachshunds.”

The aim of Vitality’s marketing, he says, is to grow the brand and “bring about meaningful conversations and new business opportunities in the health plan and employer partnership areas.” Success will be measured by both engagement and conversion metrics, he adds.

Vitality’s tools combine smart tech, data, AI, incentives and behavioral science, the brand says, thus empowering “meaningful steps toward better health.”

And Stanley and the “Health's Best Friend” platform, Kropman says, highlight “our role as an essential ally that works to drive meaningful results through preventative care and helping people lead healthier lives…Our best friends celebrate our wins, pick us up when we stumble and always believe in our potential."