Taproot bags creative mandate of Birla Sun Life Insurance

JWT India, which handled the brand, will continue to service Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund.

Birla Sun Life Insurance, a part of the Aditya Brila Group, has appointed Taproot India to handle its creative duties after a multi-agency pitch process. The insurance brand began reviewing its creative agency in August in Mumbai. The other agencies that were invited to the pitch were McCann Erickson, Scarecrow Communications and JWT India.

Interestingly, to avoid the urge to throw the pitch open to more agencies and have a "beauty parade", the company pro actively gave pitch fee to the competing agencies.

The company's creative mandate was earlier serviced by JWT India, which handled the account for five years. As a strategic call, the Aditya Birla Group has always had a single agency handling all its lines of business (there are nine). However, in this case, JWT Mumbai continues to handle the mutual fund arm, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund.

Confirming the news, Ajay Kakar, chief marketing officer, Aditya Birla Group Financial Services, says they wanted to be close to the strategic power of the agency, where execution is housekeeping service. "We were looking for an agency who would act as Lord Krishna and could also provide an army," he says. Of course, the recent addition in the top management of Taproot (with former Contract CEO Umesh Shrikhande joining in the same role at the agency) helped a great deal, with Kakar calling the trio - Shrikhande, Aggie and Paddy - 'trimurtis'.

Talking about the communication strategy in future, Kakar was clear that the positioning and personality of the brand would not change and remain consistent. "At best, we will refresh the creative expression of the brand's philosophy and personality," he says, adding that he was looking forward to the agency helping the brand with creative expression and strategic thinking at a time when the entire life insurance industry in the country was redefining itself.

In July, Birla Sun Life Insurance, for the first time, associated with a movie, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. At the time, Kakar had told afaqs! that the movie resonated with the brand's philosophy of preparing for the uncertainties of life. The brand's last television campaign was carried out in January.