"Kapil Sharma's mass appeal will help us increase our reach": Naveen Kukreja, PolicyBazaar

The insurance comparison portal has launched a TV campaign carrying forward its 'ullu' idea in its usual quirky way, this time with comedian Kapil Sharma's antics.

To place emphasis on 'Ab India Nahi Banega Ullu', in its new marketing campaign, insurance comparison website PolicyBazaar has roped in comedian and TV personality Kapil Sharma as its brand ambassador. The television and digital heavy campaign, which comprised a teaser too, has been conceptualised by Lowe Lintas.

The ad features Sharma educating consumers about comparing insurance before buying, to avoid becoming an 'ullu'. His trademark phrase 'babaji ka thullu' has been used in the TVC.

On roping in Sharma as the brand ambassador, Naveen Kukreja, group CMO, PolicyBazaar, says, "The agency brought up the idea of marrying 'ullu' and 'babaji ka thullu', Kapil's trademark line, which got us really excited. That's how we decided on Kapil as the ambassador. His mass appeal and popularity will help in increasing our reach, which is the main aim of this campaign."

On being asked if the brand may be overshadowed by the ambassador or if the ad will be mistaken for another Kapil ad (OLX), he says, "A known name always does more than one ad. That's the reason we wanted the ad to be very different from another brand that Kapil endorses. About using 'babaji ka thullu', we were confident that the idea of 'if you don't compare, you will get nothing' will come out beautifully by using the phrase. We did not see any risk."

The pre-insurance-season campaign will go on for four weeks, ending in August. However, the company's media spends will only increase as the season approaches in October-November. Rs 80-100 crore will be spent on advertising this year by the company.

The campaign is being aired on GECs, Hindi and English movies and news channels, infotainment as well as kids channels (parents being passive viewers). The segment's core TG, 25-45-year-old males, will also be reached through cricket telecasts.

Shriram Iyer, executive director of Lowe Lintas, says, "PolicyBazaar had already created a fair bit of conversation with its advertising idea 'Ullu mat bano'. With the introduction of Kapil Sharma in the ‎communication, we were looking to take 'Ullu mat bano' forward, in a manner that would allow us to seamlessly integrate Kapil's brand of humour."

The website has a registered user base of 7.5 million, with three million average hits each month. It claims to sell 38,000 - 40,000 insurance units every month, claiming to be the largest distributor of insurance policies outside banks. The company has also seen more than 100 per cent growth per annum, in the past two years, since it rolled out its first advertising campaign.

This campaign will be followed by another one from PaisaBazaar, the non-insurance online platform of PolicyBazaar, with Kapil Sharma as the lead, later this month.

Saurabh Uboweja, brand strategist, CEO, Brands of Desire, has this to say about the campaign: "Kapil Sharma, as a brand, carries a lot of equity at the moment. Any brand that wants to use wit to attract customers can go for him."

However, he points out that PolicyBazaar faces the problem of "equity leakage." Explaining the term, Uboweja says, "The brand sounds similar to half a dozen other similar brands in the industry and the audience may not eventually remember which 'bazaar' they saw."

This ad, he fears, could also be confused with the OLX ad, another brand that Kapil endorses. "There is a huge risk there, since both OLX and the PolicyBazaar ads have 'Car' and 'Kapil' as the central theme. The ad will work well only with really heavy spends," he says.