Bharti AXA: Reaching out to young adults

Bharti AXA Life Insurance rolls out a campaign to promote its 'Young India Plan' targeted specifically at 25-30 year old men.

In a move to promote its new product offering, the 'Young India Plan', Bharti AXA has rolled out a multi-media ad campaign. The communication attempts to convey the brand's 'flexi cover' product feature, that is, a plan that offers protection based on one's responsibilities at key life stages.

Crafted by Grey, the recent film highlights marriage and the birth of a child as examples of such milestones. The campaign is in line with the brand's overall signature statement, 'Jeevan Suraksha Ka Naya Nazariya'. The
previous film titled 'Memories
addressed consumers' fear of not receiving the claimed fund on time. Bharti AXA Life Insurance was then positioned as a brand that erased this fear and promised to give the claimed amount to the consumer within 48 hours.

When asked why, this time around, the agency chose to highlight marriage and the birth of a child as examples to bring out the product proposition, Vijaykumar Subramani, creative director, Grey, explains that marriages in India are about entire families, than about just two individuals. "The idea of being cornered by well-meaning relatives and elders (as shown in the TVC) was used to focus on the plight of young gentlemen representing the target group," he says.

The character is portrayed as someone who has resigned to the idea of a 'budgeted future' and Bharti AXA is positioned as the solution to this problem.

The consumer insight used is that youngsters feel the urgent need for money at key life stages, and often face problems due to inflexibility of their insurance policies. They need an insurance plan that is sensitive to their 'life stage needs'. This insight led to the creative idea of 'Aapka insurance policy aapki khushiyon ki taarikh kyun tay karen?' (Why should your insurance policy decide the date of your happiness?).

The campaign is targeted at young adults, particularly men, from SEC A and B, in the 25-35 years age bracket, who're building a career, planning a family or doing both simultaneously. Consumer research, that included the inputs of 300 intenders or owners of life insurance, helped the team reach this insight. The respondents were 25-35-year olds from metros and mini-metros.

Saujanya Shrivastava, chief marketing officer, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, points out that in general, the communication of the life insurance category has started shifting focus from death, pain and suffering to happiness and joyful times. Regarding this particular film, he says, "The new campaign revolves around our Bharti AXA Life Young India Plan that adapts itself to the customers' needs. The plan empowers customers by letting them decide when they should receive the benefits of the insurance policy. The product also offers additional protection at these life stages, given the added responsibility."

The campaign is present across mainline channels like Sony, STAR, Colors and Zee. The media selection across genres of movies and news is such that focus is on male viewers. The campaign also has presence across regional channels. Besides TV, the media mix includes radio and outdoor media.

Does the insight work?

The film reminds industry experts of ING Vysya's Mera Farz campaign, which talks about how happy occasions like marriage and the birth of a child, amongst others, bring a lot of joy but at the same time also burden the quintessential family man with a great deal of responsibility. The voiceover in the ad said, 'Dikhne mein toh pyaari hai, yeh khushiyan thodi bhaari hai'.

According to Vivek Dutta, vice-president, planning, Cheil Worldwide SW Asia, the insight and execution are both a case of 'Old wine in an old bottle'. "It's too old for a young India," he says, questioning, "Does a young couple wait for an insurance policy to mature before considering babies?"

Dutta feels the TVC does not specify whether the plan is customisable as per the consumers' need. "There are too many gaps. The strategy seems to be fuzzy. It does not really challenge any existing barrier or focus on a key motivator," he critiques.

The life insurance category, he opines, is too cluttered and the insight used here seems inadequate. "Everyone seems to be saying the same things again and again," says he. Dutta adds that as compared to the current film, the previous one (Memories) had more memorability in the casting and the execution.

While Ashwin Parthiban, executive creative director, South, Dentsu Communications, admits that the concept of 'people putting away big decisions for lack of money' is barely an 'insight', he nonetheless says, "There are some classic Indian themes and ways of thinking that are deeply rooted in our culture and way of life, which will never change. The way we think of marriage, children and family are some of them." He goes on to opine that Bharti AXA has been bold and confident enough to address these typical life stages with a pretty straightforward solution.

Though the insight can be viewed as a run-of-the-mill one, donning the hat of a lay consumer, Parthiban sheds his professional cloak for a moment and says, "When I view it as a consumer who didn't know that a policy could be designed to pay you back when you need the money, I find it not just effective but pretty memorable and endearing, too."

He finds Bharti AXA's earlier (Memories) film more hard hitting than this one. "This time around, thanks to the 'happy' setting, 'happy' topic and 'happy' twist in the life insurance promise, it puts the brand in a much better light. An effective course correction, I would say," he sums up.

According to him, the cast is memorable, the screenplay interesting, and the overall feel of the film positive and familiar. "And in this sensitive category that has for decades been dominated by the likes of LIC, it is a good thing," he concludes.