With its latest campaign, HDFC Life seeks to expand its brand presence and reach deeper into the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.
As consumers continue to evolve, localised marketing strategies are crucial for driving stronger connections and affinity among audiences. The campaign has been tailored to capture cultural nuances and regional references that resonate locally. Aligning with the organisational strategy to extend its presence, the campaign aims to engage audiences in Tier two and Tier three markets through regional language communication, fostering affinity in these markets.
The campaign is built on the insight that discipline and preparation are essential for achieving one’s goals. It recognises that a child’s education is a significant trigger for life insurance purchase, especially in the target markets. The film tells a life lesson where a father teaches his daughter the value of discipline in achieving success.
Medianews4u.com caught up with Vishal Subharwal – Chief Marketing Officer and Group Head, Strategy at HDFC Life
Q. In 2024 what is HDFC Life’s strategy going to be when it comes to localising marketing strategies in an effective manner?
We are quite fortunate to be in a country with such diversity. Every region is unique in their culture, beliefs, and habits. While we have always extended our campaigns into various regional languages, this has been our first-ever attempt at a customised campaign focused on a region. Regional or segmented campaign efforts allow us to dig deeper and focus on insights, which would make the marketing effort more relevant and evocative to the TG.
Q. What factors does HDFC Life keep in mind to capture cultural nuances and regional references that resonate locally?
Our attempt has always been towards identifying the more relevant conversations that are happening in our consumers’ day-to-day lives and base our communication efforts around those conversations.
For this purpose, we extensively research the changing and evolving consumers through the year. Be it our previous campaigns, like ‘Covid Batch’ or the current one on ‘Centum/100% preparation’, our attempt has always been to ride on the current theme. Considering this is a focused regional campaign we went one step further we aimed for a conversation that is specific to the region and then we ensured that the messaging, the character portrayals, imagery, are in sync with the region.
Q. When educating consumers on why they need life insurance in the first place does the challenge lie in ensuring that the communication is positive while not being boring?
Since the launch of our first brand campaign in 2005, our focus as a brand has always been Sar utha ke jiyo! It is our brand promise and we have always tried to stay true to it. We do highlight on uncertainty from time to time for our term and protection category campaigns but even there we always focus on enabling a life of pride and positive outcomes.
Further, as a category, insurance naturally ranks low on engagement. So our challenge has always been to build a high affinity brand via relevance. We leverage on relatable conversations in our consumer’s life and showcase them in our advertisements.
From depicting the resilience of students and families during the pandemic with our ‘Bounce Back Batch’ campaign to highlighting that parents need to plan for their children with the ‘My Child My Pride’ campaign or our latest ‘Centum/ 100% preparation’ campaign, we have always relied on honest and relatable stories to drive brand affinity.
Q. The key TG is Gen Z. What does HDFC Life keep in mind to ensure that the message connects with them?
India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 years. So, one cannot ignore the Gen Zs. However, Life insurance may not be an immediate need for them till they join the workforce or get married. We realised that we need to drive a better understanding of Life insurance solutions. We have tried to connect with this segment by using humour and focused on debunking life insurance myths amongst this TG. Collaborating with renowned comedian Aakash Gupta, we launched “Life Insurance 101,” a series aimed at humorously dispelling common misconceptions and educating them about our offerings.
Q. The latest campaign focusses on Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. How big is that opportunity?
India is rapidly evolving and with that, Tier II and III markets are now emerging as significant growth catalysts for all sectors. Further, a large part of our population resides in these towns. In line with this shift, we too, are aiming to drive a deeper connect with audiences, across these locations.
Q. In tier 1 markets where this is already good product awareness how is HDFC Life faring on the brand-health parameters like awareness and consideration?
Our syndicated brand track studies and our researches typically feature us among the top brands across Tiers I and II locations. We are strong in terms of both awareness and consideration across these markets.
Q. Does the marketing message of HDFC Life’s campaigns often focus on trust and on ensuring a better tomorrow?
Our brand promise of ‘Sar utha ke jiyo’ has been built on trust and a sense of pride owing to financial independence. From showcasing stories of resilience in parents, survivor stories, life lessons and much more – as a brand, our messaging has always aimed to stay true to our brand promise.
Q. What does the media mix look like in 2024? Any change compared to last year?
We continue to drive multi-media campaigns which include traditional and new-age media. While this is not a change from last year, over the years, our spends on Digital OTT, especially connected TV has increased.
Q. In the past HDFC Life has used Rishabh Pant and Lisa Ray as brand ambassadors. How does using celebrities help cut through the clutter in a competitive category?
Our association with celebrities has always been based on finding a strong connect between their real-life stories and our communication. In our campaign Rishabh Pant shared his real-life experience to highlight life’s unpredictability and advocate the importance of financial protection.
Similarly, Lisa Ray, a cancer survivor was featured in our campaign for our ‘Cancer Care’ product that enables consumers to be financially prepared in their fight against cancer. So, when it comes to associations, we first evaluate whether the celebrity/ artist has a relevant story that can be told.
In essence our partnerships with celebrities are driven based on the fitment with the brand and communication objectives.
Q. Does HDFC Life do on-ground activities as well like roadshows, have a presence in malls to educate consumers?
Consumer understanding and simplification is key to our marketing efforts, owing to the complex nature of our category. Hence, we continue to build properties to drive category awareness and understanding through on ground- activities. Recently we launched Junior Finance Guru a school activation effort aimed at educating students on finance and financial planning.
