India's oldest insurance brand releases 'anthem'

The latest brand to launch an anthem is an unlikely one - India's oldest insurer has released a musical campaign.

In recent times, we've seen consumer facing brands like Lay's, Ola, Pepsi, TikTok and others release 'musical anthems'. These are generally shot in professional studios, feature popular musicians and actors, and come with a complete set of choreographed steps in a sequence. Take a look at the most recent ones from 2019.

During the cricket World Cup last year, when many brands were releasing catchy anthems to fill the ad breaks, Ola presented viewers with a sarcastic "Anti Anthem."

The newest brand to join the 'musical' anthems bandwagon might typically be considered a little less glamorous than some of the brands mentioned above. India's oldest insurer - the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has released a musical anthem in a bid to convince young users to buy life insurance. A press release mentions that the campaign was targeted at a young audience and in an extension of the same, the company's employees performed in a flash mob in a Mumbai mall.

Commenting on the campaign, K Rajivan Nair, executive director, corporate communications, LIC, said in a press release, “Today’s young generation loves to stay in motion all the time, they want to pursue their passions and hobbies at 100 per cent. We want to be together with them in their journey of achievement and advancement with our robust offerings. The flash mob is an extension of our digital, radio and TV campaigns.”

At a time when music-based apps like TikTok are notorious for generating 'cringe-worthy' content, we wondered if this anthem could also be bracketed into this category. We reached out to Kushal Sanghvi, India lead, IAS, for an ad review.

"LIC the nation's largest insurance company for generations now is also keeping up with the times. With a lot of international and private insurance brands in the country now, they are definitely aiming to speak to the 25-30 who would be buying insurance for the first time. Showcasing a slice of life of a typical Indian family with parents and children living together and not a nuclear family, the advertising is peppy with a young feel to cater to this primary audience, and at the same time also connects with the older generation who are made to feel inclusive, only suggesting that they are caretakers for all," he says.

"Rather than showcasing a typical scene and narrating the benefits of their policy as they may have done in the past, the agency has taken the route of a jingle that of course will play out on television, but also the same is showcased on all the digital platforms, social media channels to strike the right note with the core TG and create the memorability aspect of the jingle that's hummable and they have moved away from digital display to audio striking with the Gaana- TikTok- Insta audience," Sanghvi opines.

He mentions that all these efforts help in creating recall and consideration. "This quarter has historically seen the maximum sales of insurance policies. Thus the jingle plays out in several versions and is not only across digital audio platforms, but on radio too to accentuate it's message to the same audience in their drive time," he concludes.