Life Insurance Marketing in India –A The Changing Advertising & Promotion
Norms
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ADVERTISING INITIATIVES OF THE NEW PLAYERS Contd..
Om Kotak and Birla Sun Life took to sponsoring events in a major way, to
attract prospective customers. In 2001, Birla Sun Life sponsored a play to
which a few Citibank credit card customers were invited. A company official
said, “Sponsoring plays and events like these give us good mileage. They may
not directly give us leads to sales, but certainly give us better
visibility.” According to company sources, Birla Sun life was considering
the sponsorship of premier shows and offering tickets to corporate agents
like Citibank and employees of Deutsche Bank, who helped in the sale of
policies. A senior company official said, “It is all about building
relationships with our corporate agents.”
Om Kotak initially highlighted in its advertisements the credibility and
trustworthiness of individual partners (Old Mutual & Kotak Mahindra) through
its generic campaigns. The TV commercials featured men and women ‘meeting'themselves in the future – happy, healthy and secure, thanks to insurance.
In early 2002, company also launched product – specific campaigns. Om Kotak
was also considering sub-branding of products.
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Allianz Bajaj went a step ahead. Apart from bringing
out TV commercials and putting up hoarding and billboards, it entered
into a two-month long contract with Shoppers Stop[4]. According to the
contract, every Shoppers Stop outlet had an Allianz Bajaj kiosk that
provided information about policies in order to attract customers.
According to company sources, its plans were to try any kind of activity
that would generate awareness about company and its policies and ‘leads'(interest by a prospective customer) and converting the same into its
customers. Allianz Bajaj's entire communication package included print
advertisements, outdoor media campaigns and direct marketing methods.
All its print advertisements carried a visual of human hands, which
symbolized partnership and care to stress on the concept of care. |
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Similarly, Tata AIG entered into an agreement with Westside[5]
to set up information kiosks in all its outlets in order to attract people's
attention. Also, Tata AIG was one of the first insurance companies to adopt the
celebrity endorsement strategy. Tata AIG chose the Hindi movie star, Naseeruddin
Shah (Shah), as its brand ambassador for endorsing its personal accidental death
insurance policy. According to company sources, Shah was selected because he had
the image of being an intelligent and reliable individual. Another private
insurer AMP Sanmar, roped in former Australian cricket captain, Steve Waugh for
endorsing its life insurance policies.
MetLife came up with simple, lucid advertisements that could be easily
understood by all. One of its advertisements read, ‘Why does anyone need
insurance? Well, why does a car need a spare tyre?'According to analysts, this
advertisement successfully projected the importance of insurance for an
individual. MetLife's advertisements carried cartoons from the popular ‘Peanuts'series and carried emotional messages.
In addition to all the above, private players in the insurance sector charted
out various innovative marketing plans to establish their products. For
instance, ICICI Prudential launched the ‘TruLife Club'for its high-value
policyholders as part of its marketing strategy. Through TruLife Club, the
company offered a wide range of health-related products, health and fitness
equipment and membership in gyms, health resorts and clinics in India.
Policyholders with a sum assured of Rs 0.5 million or more were included into
this club. According to company sources, the purpose of this whole exercise was
to encourage a healthy life of its customers.
More...
IMPLICATIONS OF THE ‘NEW-AGE'MARKETING INTIATIVES
TABLE II ADVERTISEMENT EXPENDITURE BY INSURANCE COMPANIES
TABLE III POPULAR LIFE INSURANCE BRANDS IN 20017
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
EXHIBIT I ADVERTISMENT CODE BY IRDA
ADDITIONAL READINGS & REFERENCES
[4] A leading retail chain in
India promoted by the Raheja group with outlets in eight cities.
[5] A leading retail chain in India promoted by the Tata group of companies.
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