Cab convoy conveys NFO of Mirae Asset

Telecom and financial services are two big spenders in outdoor and these players also experiment with engaging and innovative advertising out of home.

Recently, Mirae Asset, the wholly owned subsidiary of the South Korea based Mirae Asset Financial Group, created a buzz at the closing stage of its NFO (New Fund Offer - a term used in the mutual fund category to refer to the Initial Public Offering or IPO of a fund). The NFO was open during May 24-June 22.

Mirae Asset initiated a campaign that consisted of a fleet of five Meru Cabs, all branded with the Mirae Asset NFO advertising creative, which travelled together from Goregaon to Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai. A similar fleet also travelled between Nariman Point and Churchgate in the island city. Later, the same was done in New Delhi, in areas such as Connaught Place, Barakhamba Road and Nehru Place.

Girish Kalra, head, marketing and corporate communications, Mirae Asset Global Investments (India), tells afaqs!, "The idea of a convoy with Meru Cabs was a strategically thought and well timed initiative, executed at the closing stage of the NFO to give an impetus to the campaign, given that business in NFOs picks up pace during the closing phase."

The convoy of cabs activity was taken up in Mumbai and Delhi only since these form the largest markets by business volume and given that this initiative (convoy) is fairly new, the company wanted to try it in limited markets.

While outdoor was the primary medium for this campaign for its flexibility of execution in specific cities, impact, reach and cost effectiveness, other outdoor elements for this campaign consisted of train window transfers in the first class compartments in Mumbai's local trains and newspaper sticker ads at airports. The outdoor campaign was executed across 14 cities, which included the top eight metros.

The campaign was also promoted through print (business dailies and personal finance magazines) and online. The convoy towards the end of the campaign acted like a booster for the overall campaign.

Kalra informs that the TG (target group) for the campaign was kept in mind all along while choosing the media/vehicles for the activity. "The product, a mid-cap equity fund, was being targeted primarily at males in the age group of 25-45 years, living in metro/non metro cities, who may or may not be mutual fund investors but are looking at and have the capacity to invest in financial instruments that have the potential to generate superior returns in the long term. Given this profile, media such as Meru Cabs and the first class compartments made a lot of sense to tap," he says.

For the record, the Mirae Asset Financial Group manages assets of more than USD 58.08 billion as on April 2010. Headquartered in South Korea, Mirae Asset Global Investments has investment management operations in Hong Kong, United Kingdom, India, Vietnam, the USA and Brazil. Apart from asset management, the Mirae Asset Financial Group has business interests in life insurance, securities and investment and venture capital businesses.