Category: AdStrat

Deepak Agarwal

Ajay Kakar

Lead Credits: Deepak Agarwal, Executive Creative Director, M&C Saatchi; Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group

 

Name of the Campaign: Recurring Savings Plan (RSP) by Birla Sun Life Asset Management Co. Ltd.

 

Brief:

Saving via a Mutual Fund v/s other ways of saving!

 

Everyone knows that it is important to save their earnings – but people go about saving in the manner that they are most used to. Very few people choose to evaluate newer methods of saving, other than the traditional avenues. It is not surprising, therefore, to see as low as 5 per cent of all people opting for a Mutual Fund as a means of saving.

 

Since its introduction, the option of saving in a Mutual Fund has also been perceived as a riskier method of saving, because of the propagation of information about Mutual Funds. Namely, that Mutual Funds invest in the equity/ share market and that this market can be volatile – hence mutual funds are risky. But the other half of the story is that there are options in mutual fund that can cater to a variety of saving needs, with similar safety and flexibility as traditional avenues.

 

Among those who are used to saving in other ways, there is also a growing sense of disappointment with traditional avenues of saving – as the rising price of fuel and other aspects of inflation eat away at everyone’s savings.

 

Research insights: 

A vast majority of Indians have grown up with traditional avenues of saving (bank accounts, post office etc …)

A vast majority of Indians are not financially savvy about modern ways of saving (mutual funds, stock market etc …)

The investors who choose avenues other than the traditional ones target for ‘increasing their income’ as opposed to ‘planning their savings’

 

The thought process behind the creative:

The campaign objective: Remind and inspire people with the knowledge of how to save their earnings, regularly and more smartly, via a “Recurring Savings Plan” – a regular savings method in select mutual fund schemes that offer relative safety when it comes to your hard earned money.

 

The campaign idea: The secret to saving smarter lies in your childhood stories!

 

As children, we have all heard fables and learnt the difference between right and wrong from their morals. The brand plays the role of a provocateur, reminding adults of the moral behind the fable of ‘The Crow & The Pitcher’ – that doing something different, regularly can actually help one to reach one’s goals.

 

The message that the brand conveys, via its TVC, is that as adults we often use fables and morals to remind our children to approach issues in their lives in a smarter manner … but the second and more powerful message is to also remind adults to approach their savings habits in a similar, smarter manner.

 

This creative route leverages the space that fables occupy in everyone’s life, as the morals behind fables are deep rooted and unquestionable. Additionally, morals always seek to educate the reader with valuable life learnings. Hence, the creative route uses a fable to open the minds of adults – in order to plant the thought that perhaps it is these very fables and morals that can also guide us when it comes to saving our money.

 

Media vehicles chosen:

The campaign uses a mix of online and mainline (TV, Print, OOH) media to bring alive ‘The Crow & The Pitcher’ fable – in order to inspire adults to try a smarter way to save regularly.

 

The campaign is supported by a website www.recurringsavings.in where the audience can also play a game that replicates the actions behind the moral of ‘doing something regularly to reach your goal.’

 

Does the treatment do justice to the brief?
Commenting on the film, Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group said: “In a country that has deep rooted belief in savings and resultantly the highest savings rate (35 per cent of GDP contribution as compared to 20 per cent for the rest of the world), the challenge and opportunity is to bring a self realization among mass India, of the need to also save smartly, through Recurring Savings, through a mutual fund”.

 

He added: “Being a Top 5 MF player, at BSLMF we were quick to recognize this opportunity and decided to remind mass India about the merits of regular savings through MFs by reminding them of the thirsty crow fable we all heard and grew to. The moral of this story is what we hope creates self realization among our target audience. And in execution, the fable route and the animation approach was chosen for its ease in understanding and to build an instant connect on our core messaging. We decided to rely on a fresh and non threatening approach, going away from what’s now expected as a typical predictable FS advertising look and feel.”
What according to you is the differentiating factor about the ad?

• Simple yet powerful concept of regular savings through fixed income instruments of MF- easy for investors to understand and comprehend
• Inculcates the habit of regular and systematic savings and take advantage of power of compounding
• Fresh look and feel using an animated approach and a fable, story – telling route, a first in Financial Services category

 

Compiled by Shubhangi Mehta