Bajaj Allianz asks youth to make smarter resolutions for 2020

A quick look at Bajaj Allianz's New Year campaign - #Pehladinpehalaresoultion.

New Year comes with New Year resolutions. Yesterday, many among us would have decided to eat healthy this year, would have made travel plans, pledged to save more, and learn a new skill, amongst other things. Most of us also know that a lot of these promises will be broken even before the end of the first month of the year. Bajaj Allianz’s new year campaign - #Pehladinpehalaresoultion - pegs on this accepted ‘failing resolutions’ fact.

The 90-second film, a rap song, urges youth to make resolutions that will not fail them. The campaign reveals various goals that we aim to accomplish every year, and which, we fail to accomplish in the long run. The brand recommends that we get #lifegoalsdone by creating a smart back-up for life goals through its new term plan product, Smart Protect Goal.

Speaking about the campaign, Chandramohan Mehra, chief marketing officer, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, says, “The idea was to be part of the resolution-centric conversations happening during the occasion, build from our core "Life Goal-brand" narrative and make a point in a manner that resonates with millennials. Also, the fact is that while awareness for the need of Term Insurance has increased, the inertia towards the action of subscribing to the product still exists. It is one of the must-resolutions that cannot fail you.”

The film has been ideated and executed by the in-house team of the brand.

Commenting on the film's ideation, Yash Bendkhale, creative director, What's Your Problem, says it seems like the brand was in a hurry and wanted a piece out immediately, rather than wait for something worth putting out there. “The idea is very basic. The ad is basically putting the brief to a meter and singing it to a rhyme.”

We asked him if long format ads work better than the 30-seconders. “Being an aspiring filmmaker myself, I usually am a big fan of long formats. I think any secondage beyond the usual 30s-45s-60s has the power to deliver some great work. But like our friendly neighbourhood Spidey says, 'with great power, comes great responsibility'. In this case, the responsibility is to put each second to good use; to make sure there's some pay off for anyone I expect to see the 90 or 120 seconder through. In the case of this film, there was none,” he says.

Hima Bulusu, senior manager, content, TheSmallBigIdea, opines that Finance is often considered complicated and well, boring. The Bajaj Allianz ad however, manages to break that barrier and use the very relatable topic of failed resolutions as a vehicle to convey their core message.

She says, "The insight is strong, however the product is introduced more than a minute later, providing quite the year-end challenge to the audience’s attention. The advertisement does well to pinpoint a relatable problem and give a practical albeit contrived solution, while seamlessly integrating the product."

She feels short format videos have a distinctive edge over long format videos. The storytelling is crisper, smarter and doesn’t put any strain on the audience’s attention span. However, long format videos are successful too.

"Case in point, the controversial Nike ad, the emotional Google India ad or the rather gut-wrenching Vicks ad. They have a great insight, superior storytelling and brilliant music that has the sole job to amp up audience emotions. But they are far and few in between and are perhaps losing the battle to 15 seconder videos, that are packed with better storytelling than a lot of 2-hour movies," she says.