<b>Campaign Logic:</b> Joy of doing our bit and giving back

Bankbazaar.com's new digital ad urges young consumers to "play their part" in contributing financially to their own weddings

Brand:Bankbazaar.com
Budget: Rs 7 crore

Agency: Bluebot

Consumers in India are accustomed to advertisers celebrating one’s individuality by encouraging them to buy stuff and, through that, assert one’s financial independence. It is therefore not surprising to see online marketplace Bankbazaar.com targeting a marriageable population to “play their part” in contributing financially to their own weddings rather than relying solely on their parents’ savings, as is the norm.

The company aired the digital ad campaign, #PlayYourPart, at the end of November, promoting it across social media. In the just over a minute-long ad, a man is shown talking to his wife with satisfaction at the end of their daughter’s wedding after all the guests have left. The man calls out to the caterer and hands him an envelope with the cash payment. Next, he turns to the man in charge of the wedding hall but the latter produces a note from the just-married bride. As he starts to read it, the visibly moved father sinks into his seat. He wife joins him and they together read their daughter’s words acknowledging that she knows about the expenses and requesting them to accept her cheque of Rs 5 lakh.

Prince Thomas, head of brand marketing at Bankbazaar.com, says the ad conveys a message on how the company helps a customer find the right financial products, especially during the wedding season that starts on November.

 “It comes from the insight that one-fifth of parents’ savings is spent on a single day on their kid’s wedding. It’s a shocking stat, because we are a generation that speaks about financial independence. 

We may achieve many things at a young age but when it comes to weddings as a country we are dependent on parents. Through this campaign, we wanted to start a social conversation around playing your part in your own wedding,” he adds.

Bankbazaar.com has focused on a digital campaign as it seeks to address an internet-savvy target audience in the age group of 25 to 40. Thomas points out that a similar ad focused on Father’s Day reflected a man’s pride on seeing his son come of age. 

Carl Savio, chief communications officer of Bluebot, says, “When you realise that the average Indian middle-class family has to spend approximately one-off of their life savings to get their children married you know that something needs to be said. It’s time to tell youngsters  to step up and help their parents in whatever way they can.”

According to Nasscom, the Indian fintech software market is projected to double its current size of $1.2 billion (Rs 81.35 billion) to $2.4 billion (Rs 162.70 billion) in 2020. 

Companies in this space have barely skimmed the surface, says Thomas. As adoption of fintech grows with introduction of 4G mobile telecom, etc., the goal for Bankbazaar.com is “how we optimise our advertising and media spend in such a way that we target the new set of customers coming into the online space”.