Wanted people to stop and watch the ad: Muthoot Finance on breaking BFSI ad tropes

Muthoot Finance, the leading gold loan NBFC in India, recently launched a 360-degree marketing campaign, titled ‘Bharosa India Ka’, featuring actress Madhuri Dixit. The campaign reaffirms the brand’s traditional leadership status in the gold loan segment, while drawing attention to its various loan offerings such as home loan, personal loan, vehicle loan, etc.

The campaign is a recognition of the brand’s long-standing trust. The brand wants to express its gratitude towards people who have maintained their preference and faith in it.

Dixit showcases the brand in a vibrant avatar in order to connect with a cross section of audiences, especially women. The brand’s flagship product - gold loans - enables women to unlock the true potential of their emotional currency, and realise their dreams and aspirations.

Abhinav Iyer, senior general manager - marketing & strategy, The Muthoot Group, says, “Since traditionally, Gold is an emotional asset owned by the women of the house, we also wanted to reach out to them. Almost 35% of our customers are already women. In fact, in many cases, women encourage and support men to avail gold loans from us. Dixit has a great connect with this audience group in particular, and therefore for her to deliver this message was the best fit."

In the campaign, Dixit is seen dancing and singing to ‘Bharosa India Ka’. Sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, the ad is choreographed and directed by the duo - Piyush and Shazia. The campaign will be carried across TV, print, outdoor, digital, cable, etc.

Speaking about the ad spends, Iyer mentions, “Our marketing budget is in tune of Rs 200 crore. Almost 60% of our marketing budget goes towards advertising.”

The brand onboarded Dixit on February 1, 2023 and launched the campaign on Tuesday (August 1).

Speaking on the campaign’s background score, Iyer states that ‘Bharosa India Ka’ will be carried forward for two quarters. “‘Bharosa India Ka’ is too good to let go.”

The ads from the BFSI sector are usually straightforward and just talk about the products. The brand’s ads in the past have always been straightforward. Amitabh Bachchan, who has been the brand ambassador for the past five years, has been featured in some of the campaigns.

This time around, however, the brand has tried to break through the clutter.

“The main purpose of any advertising commercial is to get people to stop and watch. We wanted to create something that will break the monotony. Ads from the BFSI sector are usually straightforward and to the point however with this campaign, we have tried to break through the clutter and give the treatment a musical touch. We invested three months of planning in this campaign. It was a real challenge to shoot this entire song ad in just one day but with the best team in place, we could realise this,” states Iyer. 

As per the India Investment Grid, the BFSI sector includes banking, financial services and insurance. It is valued at Rs 81 trillion and is likely to become the fifth largest in the world by 2020 and third largest by 2025.

With 20 diversified divisions and 5,850-plus branches serving over 2.5 lakh customers every day, the brand has been certified as India’s most trusted financial services brand for seven years in a row by the prestigious Brand Trust Report. This explains the tagline ‘Bharosa India Ka’.

Iyer adds, “As per the World Gold Council, Indian households possess almost 24,000 tons of gold. Out of this, 2% is actually monetised and converted into gold loan. We, as a brand, see a huge potential in this industry.”

The brand’s consolidated net profit in the last fiscal year (FY22-23) stood at Rs 3,670 crore. It expects to grow its gold loan AUM by 15% in the current financial year.