Inspiring health and wellbeing with Boost

Bupa, the UK's largest private health insurer, was one of the first organisations to understand employers’ increasing responsibility to support their employees’ wellbeing.

At the vanguard of employee wellbeing programmes and amid the explosion in personal health devices, Bupa approached us to design, build and support a disruptive wellbeing platform for their corporate clients.

What we did

In contrast to the orthodox methods of incentivising behaviour through material reward, we designed and built Bupa Boost to reimagine wellbeing through a more game-like approach – player-first, multi-platform and non-transactional (no free cinema tickets).

We used game loops, progression mechanics, recognition, user-curated goals and social challenges to address the four pillars of wellbeing: exercise, nutrition, mindfulness and relaxation. We integrated with 100s of different health trackers, celebrated millions of personal achievements and created an engaging, mobile-native way to build healthy habits and share progress.

What we learnt

Boost was a partnership of big and small, where together with Bupa, we seized an opportunity and brought a unique product to market ahead of its time (this was before the Apple Watch). It grew to support multiple wellbeing channels, from integrations with GP health assessments to mass corporate challenges – we even investigated our own wearables – proving successful in organisations like HSBC, Co-op, Virgin and Accenture. It proved that a game approach to health and wellbeing could inspire positive behaviours at scale and for the long-term – 66% of its users became demonstrably healthier over time.

Boost in the press

The Telegraph

The HR Director

Employee Benefits

Cover Magazine

Corporate Adviser

Pocket Lint