Destigmatising depression: Policybazaar’s new campaign on mental health is for everyone

May, the month of mental health awareness, is dedicated to raising awareness about mental health issues and promoting the importance of mental well-being. In October 2022, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) directed all health insurance providers to cover mental health under their health insurance policies.

On May 27, 2024, Policybazaar, an Indian insurance aggregator platform, unveiled an ad film showcasing the journey of Major General Vikram Dev Dogra, a veteran army officer, a Kargil War hero, and the recipient of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, who battled depression at the peak of his career and defeated it.

The film shows that despite Major General Dogra’s numerous bravery awards and accolades, the most precious medal to him is the one he awarded himself for overcoming his battle with depression.

There has been a lack of open dialogue about mental health for various reasons, such as people fearing judgment or not feeling comfortable openly talking about it, even with their well-wishers. But in the last few years, awareness of mental health issues has increased.

According to Samir Sethi, head of brand marketing, Policybazaar.com, the first step in addressing any issue is to acknowledge that it exists and have an open conversation about it. Also, the number of people who are trying to seek professional help is significantly smaller.

“Policybazaar has never shied away from straightforwardly talking about serious topics such as the uncertainty of life. For example, our campaign with Akshay Kumar where he plays Yamraj, or a campaign with Pankaj Tripathi shows that we are openly talking about the fact that life is uncertain and there could be financial consequences of not taking term life insurance,” he says.

Context

Describing how Sethi and the team came across the story of Major General Dogra, Sethi shares that Policybazaar has been in partnership with IRONMAN triathlon in India for the last few years and right from the first season of IRONMAN 70.3, India, Goa, it has been the insurance partner of the event.

The IRONMAN 70.3 India, Goa, was launched in 2019, and over the past three editions, it has attracted thousands of triathletes from India and 50 other countries to the coastal state.

Through that association, Policybazaar came across this inspiring story as he had also competed in the IRONMAN event. “If a highly decorated Army officer can have the courage to openly come out and talk about his battle with depression and how he overcame it, one can surely draw a lot of motivation. At the age of 60, he took part in and completed the IRONMAN event,” he adds.

In today’s time, it is seen that Gen Z has become more vocal about mental health awareness, addressing issues, and overcoming them. Sethi highlights that inspiration can be drawn from any quarter. It does not need to come from people who are just in one’s age group or who are similar to their profiles.

He comments, “In my opinion, a story like this is a universal source of inspiration. We have spoken about physical health in the past. We did a campaign for cancer insurance many years ago. We have done multiple campaigns for health insurance and about protecting yourself and your entire family against other risks of diseases, and more. This time we felt that we should also focus on mental health because a lot of conversations have happened about physical health from a category point of view.”

Sethi says that all health insurance policies from Policybazaar’s website are being bought by people across India in all tier cities, and there is no particular target market for mental health insurance. However, during a marketing campaign, especially digital, the brand felt that initially, it could target tier-1 and metro cities from a media planning point of view.

Correlating medal and depression

One sees people competing in various sporting events and winning medals. All of these are physical and very visible wins. On the other hand, mental health is a battle one fights within themselves, which the external world rarely sees. When a person fights this internal battle and wins with hope and resilience, that achievement should be equally celebrated.

Reiterating about the campaign, Sethi says Major General Dogra won various medals for bravery in the army. He also won the IRONMAN medal. But this is the reward which he gave to himself because only he saw that he fought this battle.

“One of the ways to celebrate this win is to give yourself a medal for this because the external world doesn't know that you've won a battle and this is what we have shown in the film as well,” he says.

He further explains that the company addressed mental health in a brand campaign for the first time but has been a proponent of this cause for a very long time. It also organises a programme called Sunday Wellness, which is for its customers and also people at large.

Sethi states, “Every Sunday, we bring in experts from various fields and they interact with our customers and the general public at large and address various issues related to human wellness. We have had mental health experts in the past as well who spoke to our customers and addressed issues like stress, anxiety, and other related issues. This time we have given it the shape of a brand campaign. The idea of telling an inspirational story like Major General Dogra’s is to not just leave it there. There are multiple such stories in India which people can draw inspiration from.”

Seeing the positive feedback on the campaign Sethi says that there would be a conscious effort to go out and identify such great stories and give them the shape of a brand campaign because they deserve to be heard. Even if only a few people knew about Major General Dogra, after this campaign, they must have known him and his journey of how he overcame depression.

“Our Sunday Wellness programme continues to go on which anybody can access through our social media page. Additionally, more such stories will come in the future like Major General Dogra’s,” he asserts.

Further plans

Sethi mentions that Policybazaar will be associating with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and will be advertising from June 2, 2024, on Disney+ Hotstar.

However, the ads are going to be other health and term insurance ones, that have a shorter duration, and not the ones advocating mental health as its duration is over two minutes.

He says that this campaign is primarily launched across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and through the company’s internal networks.

The reason behind releasing the campaign on social media is firstly, Policybazaar is promoting mental health and secondly, it is now focussing on influencer marketing. “In my opinion, influencer marketing works very well if you identify the right influencers as not every influencer is fit for every campaign,” adds Sethi.

Policybazaar identified a list of influencers who have spoken about mental health in the past such as Tanmay Bhat, Kusha Kapila, Ranveer Allahabadia, Zakir Khan, and Sania Mirza.

“A lot of these people have at some point or another in their lives battled depression and they have openly talked about it so it became very contextually relevant for them to share this video with their network,” he says.