The Hindu Business Line : The spirit of positive thinking

The mantra is to think upbeat, think funny. Says Sujit Ganguli, Head (Marketing), ICICI Prudential Insurance, which was the first company in the sector to start mass media advertising: "We were the first to start off on a positive note, with our sindoor and saat pheras ad. Till we came in, insurance was about responsibility to family post death." He says these ads built bonds with the ICICI Prudential brand, and that among private insurance players, the company's market share is double that of its closest competitor.

"Emotional benefits are a way to create differentiation," says Pranesh Misra, President and Chief Operating Officer of Lowe, which handles the ICICI and ICICI Prudential campaigns.

Says Rajeev Raja, Executive Creative Director, Bates Enterprise, Tata AIG's ad agency: "Making financial services ads `humane' is a necessity. Consumers have to connect with the product on an emotional level. Most products are similar, and regulatory norms to ensure consumers are not taken for a ride keeps advertising to a certain limit."

Insurance companies also face the challenge of getting younger people to invest. Most people under thirty think they are "indestructible," said K. Muralidharan, Chief Sales Officer, SBI Life, in an earlier interview. The ads are "unpalatable" and "determine your death" and definitely discourage a lot of very suave, articulate people from even contemplating insurance, so our campaign aims to "remove the whiff of death" from it and make it a "happiness product," he explained.

The campaign he referred to is the one where two septuagenarian sisters make a surprise visit to their kid brother on his seventieth birthday. Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and National Creative Director of O&M, who headed the team that made this campaign, says, "The only thing one thinks of when they see this TVC is life. The ability and the independence to do the little things in life are important."

Even some public sector banks (PSBs) are going in for bold, bright and beautiful campaigns. One such in the recent past was that of Bank of Baroda's. According to Deputy General Manager Dipankar Mookerjee, despite being a 97-year-old major, and in spite of having begun a "holistic transformation" three years ago, people clubbed it with the rest of the PSBs, calling it `unresponsive' and `slow to react.' "Also, they saw us merely as a deposit-taking institution and not as one which offered retail loans, which we did, so we went in for a change of identity and a big campaign as well," says Mookerjee. The campaign was a splash of red and orange, in keeping with the new logo. It efficiently combined, in Mookerjee's words, hi-tech and high touch, which, he explains, are 21st century efficiency and 20th century values.

The campaign has had its effect - for a savings account drive recently, BoB notched up 1.26 million accounts in 45 days, which is five per cent of its total customer base of 25 million.

And having Rahul Dravid as brand ambassador helped. "Celebrities sell. Rahul was known as The Wall and Mr Dependable; he was a mix of both aggressive and conservative qualities, which matched BoB's as well," says Mookerjee.

Star power

In fact, financial services has not seen too many star endorsers. "The category is very critical and serious in the role it plays in a consumer's life. The celebrity needs to be credible," says Bates Enterprise's Rajeev Raja. Tata AIG used cricket writer and commentator Harsha Bhogle to push InvestAssure, a unit linked insurance plan which is part of what it has branded New Life Retirement Options. An earlier campaign had actor Naseeruddin Shah. "Both of them are very down-to-earth people, full of substance and very serious about what they do." The celebrities are used to make the ad sharper, Raja adds.

Says Lowe's Misra, "Celebrity endorsement does create some interest - especially when only a few in the category use this route. I think the Rahul Dravid campaign helped differentiate BoB from other public sector bank brands. It did give the bank a younger, contemporary profile compared to the stereotype of PSBs."

Jain of SBI MF says it's a good thing that the law prevents the MF sector from using celebrities in its campaigns. "MFs are all about hard-earned trust and celebrity endorsements are usually euphoric," he says. HDFC's Kelkar says a strong brand like HDFC doesn't need star support - celebrities can be used effectively only if awareness is needed to be created in a short period of time or if the positioning is being changed. Lowe's Misra adds that there is no reason to stay with a star endorser forever. "The purpose is usually served in a couple of years, after which the celebrity format becomes predictable and can get boring," he says.

If TV commercials for financial products have taken this warm and fuzzy approach to set themselves apart from the much-dreaded clutter, isn't it also true that it makes for some clutter in itself? This question evoked mixed reactions. The distinction lies in the idea and the execution, they say.

Mull of Tata AIG says it is unusual to have Harsha Bhogle singing and painting, like he does in the InvestAssure ads, and Bates Enterprise's Raja says, "As a brand, we need to keep surprising people." ICICI Prudential's Ganguli says clutter is inevitable in every category and that it's a continuous challenge to employ new techniques.

Conversions take place only through the print ads/face-to-face conversations which give more information, these TVCs help us get a foot in the door, they all point out.

The mood is one of inextinguishable optimism. Want a loan? Go to this bank that works late. Retiring? Look at it as a time to pursue that hobby you never had time for. Fear losing your independence to your children? Don't! Do one better and save enough to indulge theirs! Confused about this insurance option or that mutual fund scheme? Go to that consultancy, they keep it simple. One bank owns the line, but all of them, without exception, seem to be saying `Hum Hain Na!'

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