Few years back this ad would've featured a male protagonist...

A closer look at vehicle insurance brand CocoRide's maiden digital film.

It is said that advertising reflects reality. With insurance becoming an instrument for 'planning the future', the communication has almost become restricted to the man/father as the power-centre that makes financial planning decisions. Reason? In most Indian households it is often the man who is the sole breadwinner and decision-maker when it comes to buying insurance. Challenging this gender stereotype, COCO by DHFL General Insurance has launched its first digital-only campaign - #CareMoreHaveMore - for its retail two-wheeler policy - COCORide.

Conceptualised by HyperCollective and directed by Punarvasu Naik, the film showcases the need for motor insurance. The first leg of the #CareMoreHaveMore campaign speaks to two-wheeler owners, revealing how insuring one's vehicle today can provide long-term benefits.

DHFL General Insurance's first digital-only campaign - #CareMoreHaveMore

The over two-minute-long brand film focuses on two key aspects - women empowerment and the protection of one's loved ones and prized possessions. More importantly, it breaks gender stereotypes. The video shows a daughter asking her father for the keys to his bike. Although her father refuses she nonetheless enjoys riding it in secret (or so she thinks), until it is hit accidentally by a vehicle when parked in the street. The father is unmoved and simply uses the insurance provider's app to call for assistance and get the bike fixed. He then lets her ride it with the understanding that it will become her responsibility to look after it if she's going to use it. The message? Caring more gives you more of the things that matter. In short, the campaign provides a reflection of a daughter's readiness to take on the world on her own as she has learned an invaluable lesson - "to care more is to have more."

KV Sridhar

Speaking about the storyline, KV Sridhar, aka Pops - CCO and chairman, HyperCollective, says, "It's quite a cliché that a girl is always associated with a bike while a guy is always referred to with a bike. However, in India there are so many women bikers; many even going on cross-country rides. It is believed that to ride a heavy bike one needs to have a macho personality and it is girly to have a scooter - or a lightweight bike. However, it does not matter because the bike doesn't know if the rider is a man or a woman."

DHFL General Insurance started its operations in November 2017 and has already launched seven products prior to COCORide. In this short span, it has been able to write a Gross Written Premium (GWP) of Rs 141.07 crore in its first five months (financial year 2017-18).

Women in the lead

Vijay Sinha

Regarding the insight on which the campaign is based, Vijay Sinha - MD and CEO, DHFL General Insurance, says, "A National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted in 2015-16 revealed that the proportion of working women has witnessed a sharp decline compared to a decade ago. In 2005-06, when the last NFHS survey was conducted, 43 per cent of married women, in the age group of 15-49 years, had reported working in the past 12 months. This proportion has declined to 31 per cent in the latest survey."

He adds, "As an organisation, being on the cusp of bringing the InsurTech revolution to India by taking insurance to the masses digitally, COCO aims to highlight issues that need a voice and today, it is women's empowerment."

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The brand is aiming to more than triple its debut year's performance by achieving a GWP upwards of Rs 500 crore in FY 2018-19 - a section of which is geared to come from the two-wheeler market. DHFL General Insurance's GWP, as of August 2018, stands at Rs 167.77 crore.

The Caring Factor

Ask Sinha about COCO's market and he rattles off the names without pausing, "Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi along with a swathe of other tier 1 and tier 2 cities such as Pune, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad. These are the regions that see the most traffic and conversions for us through our online channels, so far. There is traffic building from cities like Lucknow, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Siliguri, Sonipat, and Patna among others and the fact that they are viewing our products is a welcome sign."

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The brand has plans to launch a slew of products that span motor, travel, health, specific risk, and moment-based products. "We have been working on the strategy of this new brand for quite some time, especially on the brand purpose - 'Care More, Have More' - because for an insurance category, it has to take care of the policy holder's needs, else it won't be sold. So, the caring aspect is what we have explored in this ad...," informs Pops.

He adds, "Since it's a new brand, the first thing we wanted to do is to establish the purpose of the brand, for which it stands, sans all the clichés - insurance claims, third party and so on. We were targeting the 'Bike segment', which is the largest segment in the country and finding out the various insights about bike insurance."

The campaign does not aim at targeting new bike owners but existing owners with three-four-year-old bikes. That was the plot on which the story was built. "It's a known fact that a vast majority - over 70 per cent of two-wheelers plying on Indian roads today - are uninsured. It's also a fact that the insurance industry as a whole, has not reached out to the two-wheeler audience in the same way that it does for four-wheelers. The logic is simple - the premium is smaller for two-wheelers and hence, the effort. The obvious choice has been to market to an audience with a higher ticket size," explains Sinha.

Hence, DHFL General Insurance wanted to be the flag-bearer to ensure that an effort is made so that every vehicle is insured in India with at least a liability cover. Also, with 70 per cent of the market still open, the brand strategy is to veer its campaign towards renewing bike insurance.

But, why is the branding element visible only towards the very end?

"Today the customer is bombarded with brand messaging wherever she is. Roads are strewn with billboards, vehicles are branded, buildings too, apart from the traditional print, radio and television commercials. People do not wish to be preached at and are very mindful of brands pushing their products and services onto them through campaigns. As the idea of our campaign has been to emphasise the need and benefits of a motor insurance policy, we did not want to appear showcasing a dire situation, which is often when a person thinks of insurance. Therefore, the branding is at the end of the advertisement, to inform the viewer that this is our message," explains Sinha.

Speaking about the challenges that come with creating a digital campaign for a bike insurance category, Pops says, "For any new brand, the most important thing is to reach the right audience and create affinity. Since, it's a mobile-first digital brand, to establish it digitally, without using traditional media such as print or TV, is very difficult. Also, unless you have internet, nobody can watch the ad in spite of having a good story."

In order to increase engagement with current and potential customers, DHFL General Insurance is aiming at developing many more films to showcase its bouquet of products. The brand plans to create fresh campaigns with #CareMoreHaveMore as a theme whenever it launches a new product.

Well Executed?

Priti J Nair

Ramya Nagesh

Priti J Nair, co-founder and director, Curry Nation, opines that although the premise of breaking stereotypes is the current flavour, the brand has made the point wonderfully and the ad has been produced really well.

She says, "What most long-format digital indulgence often misses is the role of the brand. You will often see long evocative tales just mentioning the brand like a 'brought to you by...' This one does not do that. The bike getting totally wrecked and coming back looking 'chakachak' underlines a really strong brand role. So, this will get people to at least check out CocoRide."

Ramya Nagesh, national planning director, The Glitch, says, "The ad may make it more likely for a consumer to consider this brand while making a decision." She, however, maintains, "The content was fairly predictable. Also, breaking gender stereotypes is becoming more common as the underlying theme; the content would have to have a certain nuance in order to stand out from all the other brands taking on the same space."