Life Insurance Marketing in India –A The Changing Advertising & Promotion Norms

BACKGROUND NOTE Contd..

TABLE I
PRIVATE PLAYERS IN THE INDIAN INSURANCE MARKET

COMPANY	INDIAN PARTNER	FOREIGN INSURER	AREA
Birla Sun Life	Aditya Birla Group	Sun Life, Canada	Life
Om Kotak	Kotak Mahindra Finance	Old Mutual, South Africa	Life
HDFC-Standard Life	HDFC	Standard Life, UK	Life
Royal Sundaram	Sundaram Finance	Royal Sun, UK	Life and Non-Life
ICICI-Prudential	ICICI	Prudential, UK	Life
Max New York Life	Max India	New York Life, USA	Life
Tata-AIG	Tata Group	AIG, USA	Life and Non-Life
ING Vysya	Vysya Bank	ING Insurance, Netherlands	Life
Aviva	Dabur	CGU Life, UK	Life
MetLife India	Jammu & Kashmir Bank	MetLife, USA	Life
Bajaj Allianz	Bajaj Auto	Allianz	Life & Non-Life
AMP Sanmar	Sanmar Group	AMP, Australia	Life
SBI Life Insurance	SBI	Cardiff, France	Life

Source:www.knowledgedigest.com

According to industry observers, one of the main reasons for the low insurance penetration in India was the ineffective distribution and marketing strategies adopted by LIC. The company reportedly never had any strategic marketing gameplan, and due to its monopolistic nature the need for serious marketing efforts was never felt. The advertising initiatives were limited to some print and electronic media advertisements, that typically talked about LIC's products being great tax saving tool for salaried individuals who came under the income-tax bracket. Despite all this, LIC was synonymous with insurance in India and it had established an enviable brand image for itself, especially in the rural areas and small towns. However, with the entry of new players, the insurance market changed almost overnight. Analysts commented that the private insurers seemed all set to make the industry marketing-driven, wherein technical and service excellence would be the key factors of success. The private companies, in a bid to make their presence felt and their brand noticed, initiated a series of aggressive marketing and promotion initiatives, something that buyers of insurance were not accustomed to. Such frenzy prompted IRDA to frame an advertisement code for companies (Refer to Exhibit I).

ADVERTISING INITIATIVES OF THE NEW PLAYERS

The new insurance companies used all channels of advertising from newspapers and the television to insurance agents and direct mailers. A fierce battle seemed to have begun among Indian insurance companies to make one's own brand win over the other.