With a tagline of “With us, you’re sure,” SBI Life Insurance has rolled out a new television commercial (TVC) conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai. While insurance is a long-term investment , SBI Life’s new TVC is an attempt to touch an emotional chord with its target group, which essentially comprises 30+ males.

In order to communicate their offerings to the TG and understand their views on retirement, a research was done across 30 respondents, between the age group of 25 – 45 years. The findings: for all respondents between 25-35 years pension did not figure as an investment option at all since they thought they were still too young for it. On analysing the TG further, it was found that their world essentially revolved around their family and that they often compromised on investing for their own future; they were too busy saving for the future of their family.

The new TVC shows an old woman sewing on a machine when her husband comes in to show her something that has appeared in the newspaper. Pointing to the object, he asks her whether it was the same thing that she had wanted. As is usually the case with an over cautious Indian woman who has a tight control over her purse, she refuses as it is too expensive and of no use at her age. The ‘object of their affection’ was a diamond jewelry ad in the newspaper.

Her husband asks her if she had been looking at the ad earlier. She says no. Then he surprises her with the diamond ring. She asks him what the occasion was and he says that it was Valentine’s Day when people who love somebody present them with a gift; this was his gift for her. Although touched, she says she is too old to wear it. Her husband jokingly remarks – “Heere ko kya pata tumhari umar kya hai?” (How would the diamond know your age?)

O&M’s mandate essentially was to come up with a distinct piece of communication that stands out in the clutter. The ad communicates to the viewers that they should start investing early so that there would be no problem later in life. This message was coupled with the emotion of love.

The underlying thought for the campaign thus became: “Never let money come in the way of expressing your love.” And SBI Life will be the best to manage your money so that you don’t have a care in the world in your old age. The Hindi tag line for the ad is “SBI Life Insurance ke Lifelong Pensions. Taaki pyaar ke beech paison ki kami naa aaye.”

The brains behind this ad were O&M group president and national creative director Piyush Pandey and senior creative director Sagar Mahabaleshwar. The team comprised copywriter Louella Rebello and art director Rakesh Pandit. The ad has been shot by Corcoise Films’ Prasoon Pandey.

Speaking on the brand communication, SBI Life communications manager Pradeep Pandey says, “We wanted to focus on our pension products keeping in mind the changing societal trends. We have a good pension plan and through this communication we want to convince him of his post retirement age. SBI Life provides financial freedom to its customers and that is exactly what we have tried to show through this ad. The creatives are inspired from a cultural insight.”

The TVC was launched on 1 November across India on niche channels like Aaj Tak, NDTV 24×7, NDTV India, Star News, CNBC, Discovery, History Channel, Zee TV and Sab TV. Star Plus, however was left out of the media mix because it predominantly had female viewers, who are not essentially the TG of SBI Life. In the southern parts of the country, the ads will air on channels like Sun and Gemini.

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The 60 second TVC will play for the first two weeks, followed by edits in the following four weeks.

While the film has been conceived in Hindi, it will also be dubbed in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam for the south markets and in Bengali for Kolkata.

A 360-degree approach has been undertaken to garner more visibility. The media mix comprises outdoor and ads will be placed across the top 40 – 45 towns and cities, including metros and mini metros. Radio ads will also be rolled out coupled with a contest – ‘How will you express your love for your wife after retirement?’ Internet ads, direct mailers are also in the offing as part of the media mix.

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Apart from that, Point of Purchase and Point of Sale advertising as a concept has been extended to various products. While all SBI Life branches would display posters, the idea has also been extended to kiosks, bus shelters near shopping malls and in-store branding inside jewelry stores. On-ground activities have also been planned in places like shopping malls, restaurants and multiplexes.

Talking about the timing of the ad release, SBI Life’s Pandey says, “Fifty per cent of our sales of insurance happen between January and March. On the other hand, November – December are built up months for the season and hence we timed our activity accordingly.”

While this is SBI Life’s first new ad campaign this year, the company had earlier associated with the Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Mailini starrer Baghban when it was aired on Sony Entertainment Television earlier this year. An on-air contest called ‘SBI Life Baghbaan Sunishchit Bhavishya Contest’ was also rolled out. SBI Life also advertised during the Asia Cup cricket matches.

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The new TVC is likely to strike a chord with the TG it is aimed at as it has very aptly managed to depict the emotions and love between an old couple. This has added more value to the SBI Life’s brand proposition – ‘Never let money come in the way of expressing your love.’