Financial advertising PERKS UP  ( June '6,2007, The Hindustan Times)

T HE RECENT Reliance life insurance campaign, with a man walking around with a tuft of his hair standing, did manage to arouse interest. It certainly drove home a point succinctly-that financial advertising is changing its look and feel. A long way off from the conventional plain Jane IPO campaigns, the financial products category is becoming as creative as any other mainstream ad category such as FMCGs, consumer durables or automobiles.

So, campaigns are created to address various branding and strategic issues. For instance, HSBC advertised and created a positioning for itself as "The world's local bank"-single global banking brand, which does business on six continents, and yet understands the diverse needs of their local cultures. Or the evergreen Mr Chintamani of ICICI Prudential, created to help hapless customers deal with their tax and pension problems. And then to extend this imagery, Mrs Chintamani was born-the modern, intelligent wife who shows that there is more to life than tax planning, be it saving for their child's education, planning for retirement, getting health cover or wealth creation.

As the retail customer becomes more important for the range of financial products being sold, advertising naturally has to become more arresting and interesting. It has to build awareness of products and services, create brand equity and generate sales. Financial advertising, therefore, is evolving from text-heavy, public issue-based advertis ing to the current-day slice-of-life communication.

Recall the Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund ‘snoring' campaign which works on the simple proposition: "Why let your money sleep while you work?" and the way out: "Invest in Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund." Or the Kotak Life Insurance campaign with the brand promise "Zindagi se ek kadam aagey" that was pegged to reflect the new age customer who strives to stay ahead of life and is inherently competitive.

These campaigns, and many others, are increasingly using an approach that identifies the individual investor and tries to create a dialogue platform with him/her. In a sense, we saw the triggers in ICICI's campaign when it first turned to retail consumers. It has evolved further. "Communication, in this category, has moved from featureled and lifestyle-led advertising to more philosophy and wit," Sajan Raj Kurup, chairman & chief creative officer, Creativeland Asia, points out.

The change in advertising in the financial space is an amalgam of various factors. Says Tarun Rai, managing partner, JWT, "For starters, there is much more activity in this space than was, say, even five years ago. The insurance sector has opened up and there are a lot of private players trying to establish themselves; the mutual fund brands have been very active with a spate of NFOs; the banks, both public sector and the MNCs, have been busy changing their identity/image or launching their brands."

Adds Atul Hegde, COO, Vyas Giannetti Creative, "Today's financial ads don't just talk to the principal wage earner. Instead, you are talking to the family as a whole, be it the spouse, kids or even parents. Hence we see a refreshing variety in the ads, comparable to any other major category ."

So, the MasterCard "Priceless" campaign, with it's point of view on money and what it can and can't do, has become a much-talked about campaign. Rahul Sinha, senior vice president marketing, Kotak Life Insurance, says, "Today's consumers are increasingly becoming more aware and discerning, and are actively managing their financial affairs. There is an ever-growing need of finding the right financial plan."

But communicating this category is not all that easy-it has, after all, to induce people to part with their money in the hope of a future return. That involves developing trust.

Another reason why financial advertising has become so much more innovative is because it has to create differentiation and branding for largely undifferentiated product offerings within their own segments. Over and above, "the financial brands have to compete with the soaps, beverages, air conditioners, TVs and other categories' advertising for the attention of the consumer. They do, therefore, need to be engaging and entertaining." states Rai.

A word of caution though: with the complexity of the financial products, if communication is information-heavy and unclear, consumers can get wary, even alienated. "What is happening is that many of the brands, though well known, are still fighting to differentiate themselves. Also there similarity in a lot of the communication-similar propositions centered around trust, expertise and so on, similar executions with ‘happy family' pictures and similar emotional territories," points out Rajesh Mehta, associate VP & strategic planning director, Thompson Financials.

As the clutter of financial services competes for consumers, we are bound to see much sharper efforts to create distinctive brand image and reassurance.