PNB Metlife: Building on trust

Being doubly sure is a concept investors resonate with. Building on this thought, PNB Metlife India, the insurance joint venture between MetLife International and Punjab National Bank (PNB), has launched its second brand campaign.

Conceptualised by McCann Erickson, the three 20-seconder films draw insight from real life about service problems that consumers face in varied product categories. It then compares these experiences to life insurance. PNB Metlife, which is a comparatively new kid on the block, emphasises its distinguished products and the ease of access to buy or get advice on policies. The brand's promise is to be 'Double Sure' even after sales.

To drive home its point, the film touches upon instantly relatable issues such as the trouble one faces to get something repaired within the warranty period, only to be told at the counter that the warranty is not valid because the product has been purchased from somewhere else; or when one has to run around with an insurance policy query because the agent who sold it has left the organisation.

Speaking about the strategy behind the campaign, Balachander Sekhar, director, products and marketing, PNB Metlife, says that the company strongly established 'Trust' with the first 'Double Sure' campaign. "We are now moving to specific benefits that the customer will appreciate - showcasing that the partnership now brings them access to over 7000 brick and mortar establishments across the country - to drive both the factors of 'Trust' and 'Convenience'. We believe that this will also address several issues that customers face with service in general in this category," he points out.

Vital presence

The campaign took insights from a research conducted by market research agency Nielsen, which was commissioned by PNB Metlife to study insurance consumers. The research revealed that while the main motivation to buy insurance is financial savings for the future, one of the barriers is the lack of trust in agents and servicing issues. "We further deep-dived into 'trust' and decoded what consumers mean when they quote 'trust' as a barrier as well as a trigger. Besides good returns and brand reliability, one key driver for 'trust' is the accessibility and visibility of the insurance company. With PNB as our partner, we now have a brick and mortar presence and we have capitalised on the same in our latest brand communication," says Sekhar, adding that the company regularly carries out consumer surveys to keep abreast of trends and changes in behaviour patterns on protection, investment and savings.

PNB Metlife began operations two years ago and has already managed to move up the ranks from No. 12 to No. 8 among private players in the Indian insurance landscape. In fact, the company is one of the largest private sector employers in Jammu & Kashmir due to its partnership with Jammu & Kashmir Bank. Also, it has significant presence in Karnataka, courtesy its tie up with Karnataka Bank.

The company's focus is on Tier I, II and III cities across the country. The company is clear about its target customers, who are married men (with children) in the age group of 35 to 50 years, earning Rs 5-20 lakh.

Challenges

Considering PNB Metlife is one of the 26 players in the life insurance category, competition is intense, not to mention the negligible difference in the product offerings provided by these players. As a result, the challenge was to deliver the communication in a refreshing manner, to help PNB Metlife become one of the top of the mind brands. The only edge a brand has is through its service and accessibility, which is what the brand is emphasising on.

"Customer centricity in terms of pre and post sales servicing is what differentiates a company from its competitors. One of the issues that customers face is linked to contact ability, hence, we are positioning our new brand campaign on the platform of customer centricity and first of the series is about establishing the brick and mortar presence of PNB MetLife," Sekhar explains.

Although Sekhar did not disclose a figure on the advertising spends, he says the investment is significant.

The five-week campaign is currently being aired in Hindi but will be dubbed in seven other languages. The TVCs have been produced by Little Lamb Films and Bauddhayan Mukherji has directed them. Besides television, the campaign is being promoted on outdoor and print media as well.