MxMIndia

Tag: Life Insurance

  • Long-form storytelling has found a new flavour in life insurance advertising, writes Sanjeev Kotnala

    Dealing with Death, the Life Insurance Way

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    Death is the eternal truth. It is the only certainty in life. However, it is never a pleasant thought to engage in. No one really wants to discuss it. Insurance advertising has to balance the unpleasantness of this life event. In the process, insurance brands have used Saam (logic), Daam (price and not necessarily the cost of premium), Dand (penalty) and Bhed (Differentiation and doubt). They have used polarisation of Emotions and Expressions, Sad to not-so-sad (Happy), Fear to Hope, Guilt to Assurance, Love and Care, Unprepared to Certainties, Accidental to Pre-planned to varied level of Success.

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    In the last few years, we have seen some remarkable positive shift in insurance brands connecting with the audience. Long-format storytelling in the digital world is the new flavour. Though keeping the audience with a lower attention span engaged is still a barrier that few have scaled successfully.

    Brands have tried moving away from the format of fear of unwarranted situation and tax savings to an emotional high of caring sensibilities. They have entered this area treading softly thus diluting the resistance of reference to death. However, the category cannot do away with the emotion of fear to jump-start the engines from time to time. A good example of it is the Max Life Insurance life ad (Sanju). My mom hated it and would change the channel because the protagonist shared my name.

    EMBED MAX LIFE INSURANCE AD SANJU.

    Rationality and logical sensibilities have been exploited to death. Brands know their limitation. They understand that consumer is not logical or rational but more of an emotional construct. Raising anxiety, dramatization of unpleasant scenario and Arousing tension before presenting the solution is no longer the code.

    There is another barrier. When it comes to the complex conditions and policy statement ( and unstated statements) few consumers can decipher the features and future on their own. Insurance agents are known to over sell features and non-relevant policies. Brands like Max Life Insurance (Aapke Sachche Advisor), SBI ( 10 questions) have tried addressing this issue.

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    To defuse the alienating effect of fear, it has been replaced with long-term benefits of insurance. It looked like someone watched the episode of ‘Mad Men’ in which Dan Draper outlines the appeal of fear as a tool for selling with chilling clarity. “Advertising is based on one thing: happiness,” he calmly tells his clients. “And do you know what happiness is? … It’s freedom from fear.” See the engaging SBI AD – Great Dad tackling this imagery.

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    I share with you the international ad by AVIVA. You see a family rushing for their vacation. You realise that the father is long dead, but all this is possible because of the insurance. The brand claims this helped encouraging families to think about taking out life insurance.

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    Insurance brands have moved to the new level of understanding of their consumers. They have replaced the fear of ‘What If’ to a beautiful story of ‘That’s Why’, a far more positive statement connecting with the audience. One of the ads that did it well is the ‘Memories for life’ by HDFC.

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  • 'Manager Sahab' has been created to educate the customer on life insurance and help him take correct and informed financial decisions

    Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance launches customer education campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    As part of its commitment to customer centricity, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance announced the launch of the new customer education and awareness campaign, ‘Manager Sahab’, created to educate customers about life insurance and help them take correct and informed financial decisions.

     

    The campaign uses print media – there is a series of advertisements in different languages where basics of life insurance are brought out in an easy-to-understand and simple Q&A format. As the company operates a pure bancassurance model, the character of Manager Sahab was conceptualized around it especially as the bank manager is someone whom customers trust. The campaign addresses questions on suitability, safety, return and liquidity of products.

     

    Vishakha RM, Director – Sales and Marketing, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance, said, “Customer centricity is a core value for the company. The campaign has been created with the objective of educating the customer and simplifying different life insurance concepts. The campaign focuses on providing the right information to customers so that they can make an informed choice. The concept of Manager Sahab has been developed as the source of information and clarification to build synergy on our core focus on bancassurance. Manager Sahab seeks to builds on the trust, confidence and convenience enjoyed by the banks to help customers understand the need and importance of life insurance.”

     

    Developed by the in-house brand team, the brief in a single line was for Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance to be seen as a friend, philosopher and guide. The intention was to answer basic queries relating to life Insurance in a simple and easy to understand manner and to encourage customers to walk into the banks where they do their banking transactions for their insurance needs. The campaign focuses on providing the right information to customers so that they can make an informed choice. Manager Sahab seeks to builds on the trust, confidence and convenience enjoyed by the banks to help customers understand the need and importance of life insurance.