That sinking feeling: Rediffusion’s strategy for a financial brand

There was a time when financial services ads in India were dominated by a sense of dread and uncertainty – a fear of what the future held. Then creativity happened, and banks and insurance companies trashed their dry adverts and started forging joyful, emotional bonds with consumers.

In a new ad for ING Vysya Life Insurance, Rediffusion DY&R has attempted to strike a balance between joy and trepidation – two strong emotions that money tends to evoke. The challenge for Rediff was to communicate the ING Vysya Life Insurance (IVL) brand essence, ‘Experience the Joy of Fulfilling Your Responsibilities’, in a competitive market.

Rediffusion conducted research to understand consumer behaviour in the financial space, especially in insurance. Next, the agency developed the IVL Brand Blueprint and landed up with the core communication idea – experiencing the joy of responsibility.

The film opens on a shot of a South Indian wedding in progress. The bridegroom is being congratulated by his friends and relatives. Suddenly, the groom ‘sinks’ a little into the ground, burdened by the financial obligations and responsibilities that his future now holds for him. A jingle explains the “joy of the moment and the realisation of responsibility”.

The next vignette is that of a father in a car, just as his daughter runs to him with news of her admission to an MBA programme. He is overjoyed, but simultaneously feels the weight of his responsibility – his car sinks into the ground somewhat.

Last is the story of a young man holding his newborn baby for the first time, while the ground beneath him cracks. At this point, the ING Vysya Life Insurance advisor steps in and tells him that with the help of IVL, he need not fear happiness; IVL will help him fulfil his responsibilities with ease at every stage of life. The film ends with the couple coming out of the ING Vysya Life Insurance office and taking a confident step forward on firm ground, while the tagline goes, ‘Mera Farz’.

Financial decision making in most Indian households is the responsibility of the provider (usually men, though women do play a key role in such decision making, especially in double income households). Hence, the target group for IVL in the insurance category is males in the age group of 25-44 years, while the secondary TG is women in the age group of 25-44 years.

According to the Rediff team, cherished moments such as a wedding, the birth of a child, admission of children into premier universities or courses, or even thoughts of retirement, are very important in our lives. Each of these moments bring with them added financial and emotional responsibilities, which have to be fulfilled. It is at that precise moment when we learn about such joy that the sheer weight of our responsibility sinks into our minds. This has been juxtaposed in the ad with the actual “sinking” of the protagonists into the ground.

Source: agencyfaqs! news bureau | agencyfaqs! | Mumbai, January 14, 2008

Thank you, Sir.

The Advertising Club presented The Mind Mining workshop with Madhukar Sabnavis, in association with The Telegraph at St Xavier’s College.
It was all about consumer insights and was a complete knowledge enhancement session.

Looking forward to such mind enriching seminars.

Source: http://www.adclubcal.com

Pics I like from Vikas Dutt's Site

Source: www.vikasdutt.com

Amazing Art...

Source: www.vikasdutt.com

Dil Wahi Dhadkan Nayi...

Just another mailer...

India’s ad spends grew 3.5 pc at Rs 17,356 crore in 2007

Lintas Media Guide 2008
exchange4media Mumbai Bureau

Snippets from the article...

While print continued to hold major share with 50 per cent of the total media spends with Rs 8,591 crore, Internet as a means of advertising saw an increase in ad spends of 43 per cent compared to last year, reaching Rs 215 crore. Radio, cinema, and outdoors, on the other hand, capitalised on innovations and saw an increase of 28 per cent, 16 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, reaching figures of Rs 529 crore, Rs 194 crore and Rs 1,062 crore, respectively. TV ad revenues showed a decline of 0.8 per cent at Rs 6,766 crore as a result of competitive pricing offered by GECs to retain their market share.

Lynn de Souza, Director, Media Services, Lintas Media Group, said, “There are some surprises in store – ad spends have grown by a mere 3.5 per cent in 2007 over 2006, reaching a figure of Rs 17,356 crore, largely due to a fall of 1 per cent in TV expenditure, with large advertisers moving into more cost effective channels, slots and durations. With increasing media reach amongst the rural masses and the urban youth shying away from mass media, 2008 is set to offer enormous advertising opportunities as well as tremendous challenges.”

In television, with the number of channels likely to touch as many as 500 in the next two years, television as an industry is growing at a dynamic pace. Though the direct impact of this is going to be greater ad avoidance, but the time spent on watching any channel has moved up. Also, with this burgeoning increase in the number of channels, the distribution of these channels is rapidly changing. As of now, India is Asia’s second largest pay TV market after Japan. By 2015, it is expected to be the largest pay TV market surpassing the current leader.

In print, with literacy levels rising to 551 million people in India, more people in rural and urban areas are reading newspapers and magazines today. Current estimates reveal that the reach of print media in India has increased to 316 million people. Print media is also the favourite segment for global investors with maximum foreign investment in this segment. 2007 saw launches of many niche magazines like the ‘Vogue’, ‘Economist’ and others. The print media industry still has the potential to grow as 236 million literate people in India are still not tapped by any publication.

Of the total amount spent on ads in India, radio is estimated to have a share of 3 per cent in 2007. This share is expected to rise to 5 per cent during 2008-09. As per a FICCI-PricewaterhouseCoopers report, the opening of new radio channels has provided a boost to creative content. The demand can be estimated to as much as 1.5 million hours of content annually for around 300 channels.

Source: © exchange4media 2008

Brand valuation is in...

Brand valuation measures mainly two criteria - the potential profitability of the brand and non-financial factors like brand recall as compared with competitors.

In India, such exercises have been undertaken mostly by large conglomerates, such as Tata, since it is easier to quantify the royalty to be charged from group companies using the corporate brand name.

However, of late, companies across sectors, especially fast-moving consumer goods and telecommunications, have been valuing their individual brands.

In the FMCG sector, brand valuation used to be popular mainly among multinational companies. However, sources say a clutch of home-grown entities are taking the route.

Disclosing the value of brands enables companies to have better investor relations and consumer perception. It also helps in tackling corporate litigations considering the rise in trademark cases, say companies.

For Surya Foods, the maker of Priyagold biscuits, this exercise was a precursor to the initial public offering. The value ascertained by the company for its brands was Rs 1,200 crore.

“We undertook the exercise to give a better picture to our potential consumers, distributors and retailers about the value of our brands,” said B P Agrawal, the company’s managing director. The company will use insight from the exercise to implement expansion plans nationwide.

Experts say brand valuation is more than a mere marketing tool: it has become a key management application.

For multinational companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, brand valuation is central to the strategy, which determines their marketing spend for each brand and gives them a competitive advantage. It is also a significant contributor to enterprise value.

“For Indian companies to partner the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), brand valuation is crucial,” says Sanjiv Agrawal, partner, Ernst & Young.

“It helps companies to take key corporate decisions like selling a brand, setting up a joint venture, an acquisition, or towards improving brand performance. It’s also a check on the performance of their brand managers,”

“With more companies getting listed, or heading abroad to raise capital, and a flurry of mergers and acquisitions, global accounting standards expect companies to be transparent about their business operations, which includes listing brand valuation figures in financial statements,” said Unni Krishnan, managing director of Brand Finance India, a global brand consultancy company.

“There is also a growing realisation among companies that cutting costs is not the only way to create value. While brands are intangible assets, they are central to businesses like in the FMCG sector and, therefore, cannot be left unaccounted for,” he said.

© 2008 Business Standard
Source: agencyfaqs.com

Great, truly great concepts!

Source: www.openad.net

Bates David Enterprise, Chennai gets a new address

Bates David Enterprise, Chennai has shifted to a new location from January 7. The agency’s new address now is Golden Towers, Royapettah High Road, Chennai.

Source: http://www.exchange4media.com

A Dream Come True...

The most awaited show in the city!

Six Thinking Hats!

Looking at a Decision From All Points of View

'Six Thinking Hats' is a powerful technique that helps you look at important decisions from a number of different perspectives. It helps you make better decisions by forcing you to move outside your habitual ways of thinking. As such, it helps you understand the full complexity of the decision, and spot issues and opportunities to which you might otherwise be blind.

This tool was created by Edward de Bono in his book '6 Thinking Hats'.

Many successful people think from a very rational, positive viewpoint. This is part of the reason that they are successful. Often, though, they may fail to look at a problem from an emotional, intuitive, creative or negative viewpoint. This can mean that they underestimate resistance to plans, fail to make creative leaps and do not make essential contingency plans.

If you look at a problem with the 'Six Thinking Hats' technique, then you will solve it using all approaches. Your decisions and plans will mix ambition, skill in execution, sensitivity, creativity and good contingency planning.


How to Use the Tool:

You can use the Six Thinking Hats technique in meetings or on your own. In meetings it has the benefit of blocking the confrontations that happen when people with different thinking styles discuss the same problem.

Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking. These are explained below:


White Hat:
With this thinking hat you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them.

This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.

Red Hat:
'Wearing' the red hat, you look at problems using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.

Black Hat:
Using black hat thinking, look at all the bad points of the decision. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to counter them.


Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans 'tougher' and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.


Yellow Hat:
The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.

Green Hat:
The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.

Blue Hat:
The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, etc.

A variant of this technique is to look at problems from the point of view of different professionals (e.g. doctors, architects, sales directors, etc.) or different customers.




Source: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm

Some Interesting Mailers

A few mailers I got in my inbox and I quite like them...

10 keys to creative thinking

Here is a reminder of 10 keys to creative thinking (the first one you've got right already):

1. You have to believe you can be creative!
2. Look for many possible answers; don't assume the first solution is best.
3. Be prepared to look outside 'standard practice'.
4. Play around with the issue and have some fun.
5. Be prepared to accept ambiguity, at least for a time.
6. Don't be afraid to 'say something wrong'.
7. Challenge your inbuilt 'rules' or 'assumptions'.
8. Don't always rely on experts - sometimes their thinking is limited by their expertise.
9. Don't always be logical; sometimes silly thoughts take you on to new ideas.
10. Be prepared to get it wrong sometimes.

Fascinating world of ads!

Welcome to the world of Adzone 'xpressions! Will try carrying interesting insights and articles on the ever 'xciting world of advertising!

Keep 'adding'!