Axis Mutual Fund highlights benefits of equity-linked savings schemes

Instead of product features, Axis Mutual Fund highlights the benefits of investing in equity-linked savings schemes in its new campaign

With 2017 coming to an end and the salaried as well as the self-employed looking to make last-minute investments to save tax, Axis Mutual Fund has launched a campaign promoting its ELSS (equity linked savings scheme) offering. The company has rolled out a digital campaign titled “Khushi ke aasun” (Tears of joy) encouraging potential investors to park their hard-earned money in ELSS to not only save tax but also turn their money into wealth. The film is set in a laboratory featuring two busy scientists in the midst of experiments. The senior scientist pricks the man next to him with a needle to draw blood, and mixes 

it with the latter’s sweat to produce money. The experiment goes on to illustrate that investing in ELSS over other tax saving schemes can bring tears of joy with growth in individual wealth.

The campaign’s insight is that people typically invest in a financial instrument to save tax, without even thinking of what it would offer over a period of time. Saving tax is considered as the overriding reason for the investment.

“The campaign aims to drive home the message that ELSS goes beyond offering mere tax-saving benefit. It also offers a potential for growth and wealth-creation,” says Rohan Padhye, vice-president, marketing communication and digital marketing.

The articulation of “Khushi ke aasun” essentially attempts to convey the message that ELSS investments have the potential to generate better inflation-adjusted returns in comparison to traditional tax savings instruments. The investment category sees a lot of functional messaging on ELSS. Hence, it is challenging for marketers to create communication which delivers the message in a differentiated and compelling way.

“I must say we found the sweet spot (creative and effective) and managed to convey the functional attribute of ELSS in a simple and entertaining way. The message sought in the communication is relevant not just during the tax season, but throughout the year,” elaborates Padhye.

The campaign was conceptualised by The Womb.

According to Kawal Shoor, founding partner, The Womb, the campaign addresses two audiences. The first is the traditional ELSS investor or the corporate salaried individual, for whom during the tax season ELSS is “one of the options” to invest in order to save tax. “So we had to make ELSS top-of-the-mind. 

The second is the young trader, shopkeeper and service professional who, due to the roll-out of the goods and services tax, has just come into the tax bracket. The pinch of paying high taxes from the ‘khoon paseene ki kamaai’ for them is very real. We had to tackle that sentiment too. Hence, the ‘science experiment’ plays up an emotional issue.”

The Axis MF team was clear that the communication should not feel like other run of the mill banking, financial services and insurance campaigns. There are many investor education ads, so it was important to stand out and also make an impact on the consumer’s decision of picking a tax saving option that also creates wealth.

According to a report by Icra, there is a growing investor interest in mutual funds with the number of folios growing by 2.4 per cent to cross 6 million at the end of August 2017. The growth was primarily on the back of 1.09 million new folios added to the equity category (including equity-linked saving schemes) and another 0.236 million new folios to the balanced category, the report noted.

Folios are numbers designated to individual investor accounts, though one investor can have multiple accounts. The ELSS category, being a popular tax-saving instrument among investors, alone added 0.121 million new folios between April-August 2017.