Digital push: Insurance brands look to engage with the millennial buyer

Humour, straight talk and pithy messages power the advertising pitch as insurance brands look to engage with the millennial buyer

Go where the consumer is, is a mantra every marketing school drills into its students. But in doing that Indian insurance companies such as Reliance General Insurance, HDFC Life and IndiaFirst Life Insurance (a joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and the UK-based Legal & General) are experimenting with the tone, content and storytelling methods on digital media. 

Reliance General has curated a graphic novel on Twitter called Dark Travel Tales. The social media team invited people to come up with a host of ‘what-if’ situations, imagine all that could go wrong, to drive home the message of travel insurance. Website visits shot up by 189 per cent while sales went up by 20 per cent over the previous quarter after the campaign, the company has said. 

Engaging customers on social media takes humour, suspense and two-way conversations. The medium is changing the narrative and the tone of the message and many brands are struggling to master the art. 

The youth demographic was previously not in focus for insurance companies, but that is changing say industry leaders. “The 25-35 age group is the most insurable customer segment. We have observed that insurance companies today are increasingly featuring younger couples in their ads as compared to a few years ago,” said Praveen Nijhara, senior executive director, Kantar IMRB and head, Customer Experience and Loyalty Business. 

Companies are keen to learn more about the new demographic. And they have enough opportunities to do that given the vast amount of data being generated online. HDFC Life’s research over the last five years for example indicated that both penetration as well as the intention to purchase is increasing amongst 20-29 year olds. 

The company has focused on this segment and has even partnered with various influencers; actors, musicians, standup comedians and others to reach the target audience. “We try to ensure that our efforts towards a younger population are tailor-made to suit the likes,  and interests of this segment.  When we target the younger population or young aspirants as we call them, we take a distinct and relevant approach to communicate with them,” said Pankaj Gupta, chief marketing officer and executive vice president, Strategic Alliances, Bancassurance, Speciality Sales, HDFC Life.

For this generation, social media is the primary platform of advertising. IndiaFirst said that its teams went online in search of potential clientele, learnt to speak the millennial lingo and adopted the right tone to come up with messages that reiterate the importance of insurance. The narrative has also shifted from ‘fear of the future’ to being ‘better planned for the future’,” said Nijhara.  IndiaFirst’s motto is to ‘Talk life, not death’ in a category where ads have traditionally played on ‘fear’.

“This understanding stemmed from the primary insight that certainties in life will far outweigh the uncertain. Life follows a certain trajectory in most cases and without smartly planning for each of those stages, you might end up in a conundrum. From here was born the campaign, ‘Because life is full of certainties’,” said Rushabh Gandhi, director, Sales and Marketing, IndiaFirst Life Insurance. 

Insurance companies are also getting less serious, learning to talk down the dangers of life, death, accidents, ill-health, etc. without being dismissive. Experts across the board say they are moving away from the ‘overemotional’ advertising of the past towards more varied and straightforward storytelling. 

IndiaFirst for instance spoofed famous Bollywood scenes to talk about all that goes wrong with life. The company’s social media posts also borrow a now-familiar tone from the meme culture that looks for a funny quip in some tragic moments. “Indians are sentimental and emotional, but also intelligent. Advertising has overplayed the ‘emotion’ card and audiences are now seeing through some of that wherein the promises don’t live up to expectations,” said IndiaFirst’s Gandhi.

However, some argue that an emotional pitch helps create a bond between the brand and customer, which is necessary to induce customer loyalty. “Life insurance is a category where product differentiation is negligible and the interactions between customer and company are few and far between. Given this landscape, making an emotional connect with the customer is essential for a life insurance company to bring a customer on board and more importantly to retain him/her,” said Nijhara.  

Gandhi says that in the insurance space, where every other brand uses emotions, it’s hardly a differentiator anymore. “Therefore, to break the rigour of sentimental advertising and truly stand out, I’ve seen a tilt towards advertising that is ‘in the face’ and direct,” he added.

Founder of brand consultancy, Brand-Building.com, Ambi Parameswaran however warns that edgy advertising (smart jokes, crazy characters) for something like insurance or financial savings products is fraught with danger. “It often ends up with the ad being remembered and the brand forgotten,” he said. Brands need to develop their ‘point of difference’ but that can’t be a kooky ad, he quipped.