Insure your happiness with Future Generali

The 19th player in the insurance sector, Future Generali, recently launched a campaign to associate insurance with the happy moments in a person's life. Future Generali is the insurance joint venture between the Future Group of India and the Generali Group of Italy.

Abraham Alapatt, head, branding and marketing communication, Future Generali Insurance, tells afaqs!, “We broke the communication in November and have about five months to garner all the recall that we can as January, February and March is the time of the year when about 50 per cent of insurance sales happen.”

As a new player in the sector, trying to find a good communication spot was not an easy task. Alapatt explains, “Insurance has been perceived as something that one plans for in the case of something bad, like an accident or a death. We wanted to turn this thought around on its head.”

The campaign, which started in the third week of November and will continue for some time, is made up of three commercials, which will be broken at intervals. “Having a single commercial run through this five-month slot would have created fatigue,” explains Alapatt.

The first TV commercial (TVC), titled Geeta Sadan, shows a family getting ready for the inauguration ceremony (‘grihapravesh’) of their new house. While the lady of the house puts finishing touches to the arrangements, her husband and mother-in-law ponder on possible names for the house. The lady, concerned that the auspicious time will pass, tells them that they can discuss these things later.

During the ceremony, the lady sees that the house has been named Geeta Sadan after her. The ad ends with a voiceover (VO) saying, “Apnon ki khushi ke liye shagun ke naam se aap kya nahin karte. Kyon na grihapravesh par unki sukhi zindagi bhi insure karen? Future Generali Insurance. Ek shagun zindagi ke naam (You do everything you can for the happiness of your loved ones. Why not insure their lives, too, during this ceremony? Future Generali Insurance. A good omen for life).”

The third (yet to be released) TVC is about a young man who gets a double promotion and comes home with gifts for his parents and brother. His mother asks him what the need was for him to bring all these things and he answers, “Shagun ke naam (For an auspicious moment).”

His mother asks if he has brought anything for his wife, Shagun. He pretends that he’s forgotten and then gives her an insurance policy which has her as the beneficiary. This TVC will be aired in the first week of January. O&M is the creative agency.

Sumanto Chattopadhyay, executive creative director, South Asia, O&M, says, “The brief was very clear – to associate insurance as an act of ensuring the happiness of your loved ones. In a way, insurance is a 'shagun', too.” Shagun is a Sanskrit term connoting a ritual or token meant to bring good luck.

Chattopadhyay says that the very clear-cut brief that they received from Future Generali made things very easy.

Radio spots are being aired as a part of the campaign. These portray similar happy, yet tense, situations. The outdoor also highlights the tagline, ‘Khushi ka har pal insure kar lo zindagi bhar (Insure every moment of happiness)’. Most inquiries were generated from the SMS short code provided in the ads.

As a part of the activation, ‘nimbu’ and ‘mirchi’ (lemons and green chillies – common symbols to ward off evil) are being distributed at traffic signals, along with leaflets containing information.

Sainath Saraban, executive creative director, Leo Burnett, says that there have been too many ads in the banking and insurance space. Of the TVCs, he says, “It does not seem like anyone’s making a good enough differentiation here. In comparison, the Birthday ad was nicer.”

Chattopadhyay says, “The brief is such that it has enough leg to it and will grow. That’s what we plan to do – grow on the tagline.”

Jagdish Acharya, executive creative director, Mudra, says that though the commercial starts with a sharp insight, it ends on a generic argument. “The spin on Shagun seems quite forced. It does not fit naturally with the plot of the idea.” He adds that the Geeta Sadan TVC has a ‘caught-you’ moment, while the Birthday one isn’t as impressive.

Future Generali is a 74:26 joint venture between the Pantaloon Group and the Generali Group of Italy for life and non-life insurance businesses in India. Of the 74 per cent Pantaloon stake in Future Generali, Pantaloon Retail holds 56 per cent and Pantaloon Industries holds 18 per cent.