MAM
The Muthoot Group goes bullish on OOH for ‘Gold Loan is Good’ campaign
NEW DELHI: The economy has been hit by Covid2019 due to which not only has spending declined but the loan market also took a hit. Banking on this, The Muthoot Group’s recent campaign ‘Gold Loan is Good’, featuring Amitabh Bachchan, looks at chasing away apprehensions associated with gold loans and encouraging more people to make use of the gold stored in their homes. Surprisingly, it is one of the few brands that chose to focus on OOH.
The Muthoot Group’s general manager- marketing and strategy, Abhinav Iyer says that the primary objective of launching this campaign was to increase the overall gold loan category. “There is over 26,000 tons of gold with Indian households and less than two to three per cent of this is monetised. Hence, there is a huge market opportunity that remains untapped. Secondly, the objective is to dispel the various misplaced apprehensions associated with gold loans that often come to the minds of first-time gold loan takers and finally, but most significantly, to project gold loans as a 'Good Smart Option, as against being the Last Option' for seeking financial credit.”
It is live on television, digital, print, OOH, transit media and select forms of BTL promotions. However, Muthoot Finance went big on OOH though people are mostly still indoors. Executed by Brandscope throughout India, the hoardings are visible across 50 cities on more than 200 sites.
“If you look at it in silos, outdoor may come across as an outlier. It is important to see our OOH investment in conjunction with our overall media mix. Our OOH investment is part of our larger integrated marketing campaign for Gold Loan is Good. It is one of the five to six mediums handpicked to launch our new advocacy-based communication. In actual terms, the investment is substantial considering current times, but from a percentage share to overall media investment perspective; it is modest. Having said that, our digital investments, too, have grown notably post-Covid2019 to cater to the rising digital media consumption trends,” says Iyer.
“Besides traditional OOH, we have also included a few DOOH sites and some interesting innovations. Outdoor is a great recall medium and with phased unlocking measures, people have started stepping out and since we received some great deals, we chose to leverage this medium as well, to the maximum possible extent,” he adds.
The company has also launched a mega radio campaign called ‘Muthoot Finance Sunheri Soch’ exclusively on Red FM. Sunheri Soch is a series of inspiring, real-life stories of courage, hope and positivity. Narrated by Bachchan, these are stories of common men and women who took a gold loan from Muthoot to achieve their dreams and progressed in life. An especially made Sunheri Soch anthem has also been launched with Bachchan and RedFM’s top RJs saluting the courage of successful people who have achieved their dreams in highly challenging circumstances.
Iyer claims that since the time of the pandemic a number of financial services players have shifted their focus to gold loans. “Overall, the media landscape is certainly under stress but we have great partners who stitched some good deals thereby helping us get maximum value for our investments,” he shares.
Brands
Hardik Jhaveri named senior director marketing at Colgate-Palmolive Asean hub
Former Hill’s Pet Nutrition general manager returns to the company to steer marketing for South Asean from Kuala Lumpur
KUALA LUMPUR: Hardik Jhaveri has been appointed senior director marketing for the South Asean hub at Colgate-Palmolive, marking a return to the consumer goods major after a three year stint with Hill’s Pet Nutrition. He will be based in Kuala Lumpur and will lead marketing strategy for the region.
Jhaveri joins the role after serving as general manager at Hill’s Pet Nutrition in Taipei, where he led a cross functional team and oversaw the business with full profit and loss responsibility. The role placed him at the helm of operations in Taiwan, managing growth in what he described as a start-up style environment within a global multinational.
Before that, Jhaveri spent over a decade with Colgate-Palmolive across several marketing and innovation roles in Asia. As associate director innovation for Apac excluding China, based in Hong Kong, he led new product development and launches across multiple markets.
His portfolio ranged from developing specialised oral care products such as a diabetes focused toothpaste for the Indian market to launching premium oral care experiences under the Colgate Total brand in Australia. Alongside innovation, he also worked on launch planning, brand strategy and communications for the company’s oral care portfolio.
Earlier in his Colgate-Palmolive journey, Jhaveri held roles including marketing manager innovation, senior brand manager and brand manager. His work spanned urban and rural markets in Mumbai and customer development responsibilities in the Greater Kolkata Area.
Prior to his long association with Colgate-Palmolive, Jhaveri worked as brand officer home care at Unilever, where he helped drive marketing initiatives for the Rin detergent brand, including nationwide relaunch and on ground activation campaigns.
He began his career in advertising with Bates David Enterprise, working on brands such as IDBI Bank, The Leela Hotels and The Times of India.
Jhaveri holds a post graduate programme in management from the Indian School of Business and has also completed a level 4 diploma in wine from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
Announcing the move, Jhaveri said he is excited to begin his new chapter at Colgate-Palmolive’s South Asean hub and thanked colleagues and mentors who supported his journey at Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
