ICICI Prudential opens new doors after retirement

The brand has changed its tagline for the first time since its debut in 2002

ICICI Prudential has released the fifth commercial for its retirement solutions. Similar to previous campaigns, this one also aims at building a positive outlook towards retirement.

ICICI Prudential has been at it since 2002. The first in the category then, ICICI recognised that Indians do not invest for their own future. They'd rather plan for a house, children's education and even marriage, but only a few will plan for life after retirement.

ICICI Prudential opens new doors after retirement

Another truth that the brand learnt was that retirement is perceived as a compromised state in life. Therefore, the life insurance company has worked on changing perceptions of retirement and helping consumers to see that there is an upside to retirement.

The latest ad opens on the shot of a suited man in an office, looking for a certain Raman. He opens the door to Raman's cabin, only to find the latter at a cricket practice session. Raman explains that he's coaching kids, because he really likes it. There are other instances where Mr Suit opens the door to enter Raman's cabin, only to find Raman's café, and at another time, to an orchard where Raman is harvesting apples.

The ad ends when Raman is startled out of his daydream. He has been in his cabin all this while, imagining how he'd fulfil his dreams after retirement. The ad ends with the super, 'Retirement, world's best job'.

This is the first change in tagline since the maiden ad, when the tagline was 'Retire from work, not life', though the brand idea was the same.

Sujit Ganguli, senior vice-president and head - marketing at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance explains that research was conducted before arriving at the present tagline. After many insight mining processes, the one insight that stuck out and struck a chord was that of looking at the dreams that people stash away at the back of their minds, due to the daily grind of a job and other responsibilities. "Also, the fact that it isn't part of the Indian culture to plan for retirement, like one plans for marriage or education," says Ganguli.

The aim is to go beyond stirring the consumer, and get him to start seriously investing in his future.

Amer Jaleel, executive director at Lowe Lintas, the agency that works on the brand, says, "The idea was to relate to the younger working man, who could then wisely save for his future, instead of portraying his harsh future, if he doesn't invest."

The agency had to make retirement aspirational for the hesitant Indian consumer. Hence, the route of pulling out one's secret desires that have taken a backseat somewhere in the course of life, elaborates Jaleel.

The film has been shot over three days by Shivendra Dungarpur of Dungarpur Films. The office shots were done locally, while the outdoor scenes were shot in Chail, Mashobra and Shimla. The scene, where the door opens to the outdoors, was shot on green screen. Then, the coordinates were matched, so that it was seamless in the end.

When afaqs! spoke to a couple of adlanders, this is what they had to say.

Josy Paul, chairman and chief creative officer, BBDO India is impressed with the tagline. "There's a concept in the line that can grow into much more," he says.

N Padmakumar, national creative director, Everest Brand Solutions, too, feels that the tagline has much more scope to grow. However, he feels that the proposition with this category is the same, which doesn't make the ad stand out very prominently. But he is quick to add, "The execution of the ad is such that it sticks in the mind."

As part of the campaign, a microsite, called www.retirementbestjob.com, has been created, where a contest is taking place. The winner of the contest can live his dream retirement job for seven days and get paid for it.

The campaign will also use other media vehicles.

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