Does this spot make you feel like getting off the couch?

The advertiser, ICICI Lombard, promotes its health and wellness solutions through this campaign, titled #DoTheDifficult.

Insurance company ICICI Lombard has taken up the task of motivating the masses to take care of their fitness and well-being, and has recently launched a nationwide brand campaign titled 'Do the Difficult'. This multi-media drive will run across television, radio, digital, outdoor and social media on a pan-India basis.

The campaign highlights ICICI Lombard's core brand proposition of 'Nibhaye Vaade'. It focuses on 'placing customers first', and enabling them to fulfill promises made to their loved ones. The central theme of the campaign aims to nudge people towards keeping commitments once made - staying active and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Does this spot make you feel like getting off the couch?

The ad film showcases the story of a father determined to fulfill a promise made to his daughter, overcoming obstacles and breaking mental barriers in the process. In the film, the protagonist is shown going for an early morning run despite extreme cold weather conditions. While running, he gets several thoughts to give up on the ordeal as he feels the impact of extreme conditions. However, he continues to run because of his promise to his daughter to stay fit.

Developed by Ogilvy India, the ad film- produced by Good Morning Films and directed by Shashank Chaturvedi, has been conceptualised by Talha Bin Mohsin and Mahesh Parab, senior creative directors at Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai.

The TVC is complemented by radio spots and multiple outdoor and digital creatives. In order to ensure engagement with consumers, the insurance company has taken several initiatives on radio as well as digital media, using the hashtag '#DoTheDifficult'.

Commenting on the campaign, Sanjeev Mantri, executive director, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, says," We have been transforming ourselves to play a more proactive role by helping our customers stay fit and healthy. This is in line with our belief that prevention is better than cure, and our new brand campaign exemplifies this thought."

Through this campaign the insurance company attempts to promote its health and wellness solutions, enabling its customers to choose from a range of wellness benefits offered in its health insurance offerings. Customers can avail of yoga and gym reimbursements, nutrition consultation, sports and fitness therapy as part of ICICI Lombard's health insurance offerings.

Speaking about the ad campaign, Mohsin and Parab says,"Everybody wants to get fit. Nobody wants to sweat it out. We promise our loved ones that we'll start going to a gym or the pool but that day never comes. Once we struck upon this head-versus-heart insight, the rest was fairly easy and thus was born #DoTheDifficult. The biggest challenge in executing the campaign was shooting the ad film. It was shot in Estonia, a country located in Europe, where the temperature was -15 degree Celsius."

The duo further says," The campaign, centered upon health and wellness insurance, highlights the fact one should always have insurance when one is hale and hearty, and not after something goes wrong. So, wellness insurance is something through which you take a gym or a club membership and then get your money reimbursed through it. So, this is a very proactive way to get involved with the consumers."

Elaborating further on the creative, the duo adds," The existing proposition was 'Nibhaye Vaade'. So, the thought behind this campaign was to convey the message that if you want to get actively involved with your consumers, tell them to fulfill the promises they made to their loved ones. So, we thought of telling a very emotional story of a father and how he keeps his promise, when his heart is telling him to stick back to what he does everyday".

But, will consumers get influenced?

In recent years, communication in the insurance segment appears to have swung from promoting benefits and returns of buying a policy to building an emotional connect with the consumers. So, we asked our experts whether this ad succeeded in creating that impact.

According to Mangala Bhattacharjee, creative director, DigitasLBi Delhi, the consumer today is well aware of the importance of buying health insurance and keeping it up-to-date. "The question is, how to cut through the clutter and convince them to go for one particular brand? I feel a brand needs to put its efforts in the direction of communicating unique benefits. I found that missing here," she says.

She explains further, "I am a total believer in having insight-driven communication. This story sparks from a very strong insight and hence strikes a chord. However, I would have loved if the delivery was not so obvious. Five seconds into the ad and I could predict what it was going to be about," adding, "A brand like ICICI, which has done compelling campaigns such as 'Bandey Achchey Hai,' and others in the past, can actually push the bar and take some risks. Especially with digital, there's scope for doing so much more."

KV Sridhar, chief creative officer India, SapientNitro, says, "The insight is brilliant but the execution falls a little short. However, it helped me recall my own story about how I quit smoking after my daughter asked me to do so. Fathers actually can do anything for their daughters." He adds, "The ad also highlights the products about fitness and wellness. However, it would have been better if those were presented in a much more dramatic way as it's not vivid enough to feel for the father. There are two things in advertising - either tell me the reason that the product I am buying from you is useful enough, or if you are doing emotional advertising, it needs to be extremely honest, real and the believability should be very high."

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