Q] Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance (ETLI) recently did an ad campaign ‘Flexi Savings’ with cricketer Mithali Raj, can you tell us about the campaign?
The thought behind the campaign was that today consumers are moving towards what we call, personalization. Everyone’s need is different, and therefore the solutions catering to those needs are now required to be tailored. But this must be done while remaining within the regulatory boundaries, as insurance is a highly regulated industry.
Whenever we do a campaign, we have two major stakeholders. It is not only the end consumer, but also the distributors who are extremely important for us. In our previous campaigns we had associated with Saina Nehwal, Rani Rampal, Mirabai Chanu, Hima Das, Dipa Karmakar, and Mary Kom. It was clear that we want a female face this time as well, hence, Mithali Raj was a very natural choice for us. Mithali is someone who is actually credited to be that one person who singlehandedly brought women cricket up to the level that it is today. She is a face that is recognised, a face that is extremely aspirational, and she inspires a lot of people.
Q] ETLI is known for brand associations with female sports personalities. What makes them more desirable than actors who are often seen endorsing BFSI brands?
Actors are more desirable and aspirational, because most Bollywood celebrities have not faced red-tapism, bureaucracy, and apathy from the government. Almost 95% of the investments in Indian sports today goes into cricket, and that too men’s cricket. So, women sports personalities have to face all the hurdles, in addition to societal pressures. I think we as corporate citizens have a role to play in bringing up other sports, especially women’s sports.
Q] Normally, what is the marketing budget and mix of campaigns for ETLI throughout the year?
I cannot talk about the actual budget of this particular campaign, but I can talk in terms of percentage. This campaign is extremely important for us. This is in line with the innovative products that we have been launching. Almost 20% of our overall budget will go towards this campaign. In terms of the marketing mix, we want to be where our customers are. Most of our customers have moved towards Digital. So, Digital has been the clear focus for us. Almost 50-60% of my budget for the campaign will go towards Digital. This is also supported by a localised outdoor campaign in some of our key markets. We are also doing a lot of on-ground activities to promote this.
Q] The Indian market is flooded with multiple life insurance, healthcare benefit plans. Whom do you consider as your competition in the market?
We are a comparatively new player, the youngest life insurance company in the country. Having said that, we are still 11 years old in the business now. Insurance is a huge market, but it is also extremely polarized, you have one player with more than 50% market share, which is LIC, and the rest are private players. From a market share point-of-view, it looks very small, but in absolute numbers it is huge. We don’t look at competition because I don’t think that we are of that size right now. The market is huge, so I think there’s place for everyone, and I believe that there is place for more life insurance companies in the country. The market is so under penetrated that we as a nation are inadequately insured. Out of all the COVID claims that came in due to the deaths that happened in our country, only 15-16% of deaths were covered by life insurance. The market is so huge that I don’t think any of the companies should play the market share game. It is our collective responsibility to reach out to more and more people, and provide them insurances.
Q] Apart from this campaign, what other innovative marketing strategies do you utilize to reach out to the masses, and to increase the revenue at the same time?
I believe we have three pillars in this regard. First, we talk to women and in a majority of our communication, the woman is the protagonist. Second, it comes from understanding of Indian consumers, so we decided that we will never talk about death. In all our campaigns, never have we discussed death. Our brand is positive, and such is our value. Third, every religion, region, and age group celebrates festivals. Festivals are very close to the heart, it is a time when the family comes together and celebrates, and insurance is a family product. During festivals, we create a lot of stories and link them back to our plan, and we talk to consumers in the language that they want. Every year as part of our planning process, we decide to pick up five, or six festivals, and link the communication to our products.
PROFILE
Abhishek Gupta is currently the Chief Marketing Officer of Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance. As the chief brand champion, Gupta manages the reputation of the company by promoting its diverse and innovative range of product offerings and services. Helming a team of ambitious and creative minds, Abhishek has been harnessing the company’s product innovations and superior customer experience to set advertising benchmarks in the industry. He also leads the Customer Experience strategies for the company, and strives to build a differentiated brand experience that can foster customer trust and advocacy.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance established nationwide operations in July 2011 with an immovable focus on protecting people’s dreams and aspirations. Guided by customer insights, it has been offering need-based and innovative life insurance solutions to help customers live their #ZindagiUnlimited. With a customer-centric approach, the company endeavours to build a multichannel distribution network to effectively serve its customers across the country. As of March 2022, the life insurer has established 109 branches in 88 major cities.
FACTS
Media agency: EMC Solutions Worldwide Pvt. Ltd.
Creative Agency: Left Of Centre Marketing
Production house: Analogue Productions
