The Hindu Business Line : The security policy

INSURANCE agents are having an easier life, as the recent series of ad campaigns based on life insurance have helped them rip the dreaded `God Forbid!' word from their sales pitch. For instance, the endearing SBI Life rendition on the need for security eventually warms the cockles of one's heart.

Says S. Muralidharan, CMO, SBI Life, "Insurance is one business where there is no uniqueness of product across the category. There is barely any product differentiation. What one offers today, somebody will offer tomorrow. So, to sustain competition, one has to stand out in the area of communication."

`Relive the feeling of security' is what SBI Life promises. This positioning works on a dual level. Firstly, it talks about offering the irreverence of childhood based on the belief of security. Secondly, it employs the legacy of SBI to support the life insurance brand.

The campaign blooms under the heartrending lines `Voh bachpanwaali khushi lauta do.' Created by Ogilvy & Mather, the SBI Life campaign was executed by Pushpinder Singh, Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar and Abhijeet Karandikar while Shivinder Singh from Dungarpur Films shot two black-and-white audiovisuals of 40 seconds' and 30 seconds' length to capture this same nostalgic feeling of childhood.

"We do occasionally release product-specific advertisements, more a tactical move. But for more than one reason, January to March is a time when insurance players get to see good business and this is a time most players get into brand advertising. So the current re-run of the corporate ad is a strategic move," added Murlidharan.

Public sector undertakings have lately attuned themselves to the concept of vying for the mind space of their target audience. Efforts to reach this audience have been doubled.

Pradeep Pandey, Manager (Communications), one of the key players in the SBI Life branding exercise, is a former ad man who contributed to making the company advertising-savvy.

According to Pushpinder Singh, Senior Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, the creatives are mostly about the sense of security that one feels as a child. "In the film, we took quaint slice-of-life incidents which had happened to each one of us when we were growing up. We remember those incidents, and we miss them. There were many moments of serendipity. Kids in this ad didn't require any direction to perform. We just put them there and they did their own number, and the most priceless clippings we got came that way, especially the shot where the kid attempts to sit on the dog. There is no way you can make a kid improvise on the shot. The magic just happened," Singh added.

The ability in promoting any service lies in creating a bond with the person who watches the commercial. On a real time basis, nobody's going to rush out and buy a three policies, Singh said, adding that all that advertising can do is to create a positive inclination, so that the next time you encounter an agent you won't turn your back on him.

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