‘The parrot, the chameleon, and the tortoise': The story behind Nuvama group's maiden ad campaign

Edelweiss Wealth Management, a part of investment and financial services group Edelweiss, is set to soon demerge from the group. The company rebranded to Nuvama Wealth Management in December 2022. The demerger is expected to close by the end of June 2023.

With the demerger’s completion approaching, Nuvama unveiled its first advertising campaign. ‘Let’s Do It Right,’ in May 2023. The primary objective behind this campaign is to introduce the company’s new identity to the wealth management market. 

The campaign was conceptualised by agency Ogilvy. It features three 20 second ad films. The three films feature a parrot, a chameleon, and a tortoise, as metaphors. The first ad film saw a parrot saying, "it's okay for us to nod at everything because we are parrots, but your wealth manager shouldn't".  

In the second ad film, a chameleon says that it can change its color but your wealth manager shouldn't be copying him. The third ad film sees a tortoise saying that a wealth manager shouldn't be moving at its pace. The films end with a message, ‘We only do what’s right for you and your money.’

Sujay Rachh, chief marketing officer, Nuvama Group, shares that the company underwent an extensive rebranding exercise before they came out with the campaign. This campaign is a byproduct of observations it made during its rebranding and repurposing exercise. 

“We rejuvenated our brand identity to ensure clarity about what Nuvama is about. We were able to craft our brand's purpose thoroughly with this exercise. We then involved our partners and stakeholders to help us come up with a name which aligned with our purpose. The name Nuvama actually does justice to our brand and to our business and to our purpose,” he adds.

The target audience for the company is the HNI (High Net Worth Individual) and UHNI (Ultra High Net Worth Individual). Nuvama is currently servicing more than 1 million affluent individuals and high-net worth individuals and about 3,000 of India's wealthiest families, according to media reports.

With their first campaign, the company wanted to inform their stakeholders not only about the name change but also their brand’s redefined purpose. Rachh believes that the company is entering the market with a 'purpose-driven campaign'. 

“We zeroed in on our brand purpose, which is putting our client interest over ours. This entire campaign manifested from our customer first approach. We were also able to announce that we have transitioned from Edelweiss Wealth Management to Nuvama, along with introducing the consumers to our business strategy.” 

The company conducted a qualitative research with its existing clients for this campaign. This helped them gain insights into the industry trends. Nuvama found out that their customer base believes that marketing campaigns of companies in this business seldom talk about customer interest first.

“Mostly, when you get a call from a bank relationship manager, they talk to you about what the bank can offer you first, and not what you necessarily want. The perception that company's don't have a consumer centric approach when it comes to wealth management is prominent in our target audience,” Rachh asserts.

The survey helped them identify this as a gap in the market, which it aims to address with the campaign. Ads or the general communication by companies operating in the BFSI sector traditionally plays high on the emotions card, Rachh opines. Further, companies often demand trust and reliance from their customers. Trust is something that cannot be demanded, but only earned, he adds.

“With this campaign, we want to outline how we will want to be committed to our purpose. When we say ‘Let’s do it right’, we actually want to be authentic in our approach to wealth management. We want to communicate that we are empathetic towards the situations in the market in making our decisions. Further, we also want to communicate that our work has a touch of intelligence and wit. The messaging was captured adequately in the campaign,” Ruchh says. 

The company took a 360 degree approach towards this campaign. It will be analysing the responses the campaign generates on different mediums. Upon evaluation, it will then fine tune their marketing strategy going forward according to their addressable audience.

Connected TV is another medium that Nuvama is currently exploring. “Going forward, we will definitely be largely digital-first in our approach. To ensure that we reach out to a larger set of audiences, we will not shy away from shifting our focus on mass media channels. We may want to look at smarter ways of reaching the client in a slightly targeted manner in the near future,” he informs.