103-year-old National Insurance Company dons a new look

The change in brand identity is meant to signify changes within the organization as well, in order to provide better services to consumers

The leading public sector non-life insurance company, the National Insurance Company (NIC) has unveiled its new brand identity. Apart from a new brand identity, the company, which began operations in 1906, is also undertaking structural, system and operational changes to provide better services and easier communications to customers.

Handled by Grey Worldwide, Kolkata, the brand has adopted a simplified version of the existing peacock form. The visual identity is based on the main graphic element of the existing logo – a triangular form in deep blue – to which another shade of blue has been added, to make the identity look cheerful and young. The new peacock form suggests boldness and pride. It aims at making NIC stand out amongst other companies in the category.

103-year-old National Insurance Company dons a new look

The brand has also adopted a new positioning statement: ‘Thoda Simple Socho’. To communicate the change and its new positioning, NIC will unveil a mass media campaign on April 1. The pan-India campaign will span TV, press, radio, outdoor and interactive communication on the digital front.

Grey, which won the account post a multi-agency pitch in November 2008, will be responsible for the creatives, while Mindshare handles the media duties. The account size then was estimated to be Rs 25 crore.

Mousim Mitra, creative director, Grey Calcutta, says, “Our research prior to the rebranding revealed a stark lack of recall for the brand. Consumers were not associating well with the old logo, and therefore, awareness was also quite low. Again, the organisation as a whole had gone through some changes internally to make things simpler, settlements fairer and ensure prompt services to the consumer. This exercise mirrors these changes too.”

He maintains that the brand will unveil a TVC, print and radio campaign for the corporate identity, as well as integrate these media for three product-related offerings.

On the occasion, V Ramasaamy, chairman and managing director, NIC, says, “Simplicity is now part of our progressive stance. And that starts with our new look. It is a small part of the many changes that we have put into action, to provide you with prompt and hassle-free services…the simple way.”

He adds, “The evolution of our identity indicates the growing significance of our brand and marks a milestone in our progress.”

NIC has entered into a deal worth Rs 393 crore with HCL Technologies, which will be responsible for setting up and managing a new enterprise solution. The partnership includes services such as business process reengineering, application blueprinting and rollout, systems integration and management services, spanning over 1,000 offices and 16,000 end users across the country.

The change in logo is not just a change of identity, but also suggests change in the work processes of the organization.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com