We are consciously trying to break stereotypes: MVS Murthy
MVS Murthy, Head of Marketing & Digital, TATA Asset Management Ltd. explains why Tata Mutual Fund chose to go the digital way for their campaigns
How can financial firms demystify their products for consumers and grab their attention in an increasingly crowded advertising space? TATA Mutual Fund for one decided to use the digital advertising route through clever personalised campaigns, for which they collaborated with Digital Marketing company-Social Beat.
In conversation with exchange4media, Marketing and Digital head, TATA Asset Management Ltd, MVS Murthy said the decision to go digital with their slice of life films struck all the right notes, “In the last one year we have done multiple campaigns in the digital space. Our first campaign was that of ‘Katoti Kumar’, who was essentially the protagonist in the campaign and is a metaphor for taxmen. They were four slice-of-life films which were done, and each of these films had over a million views. And this coming at the back of the fact that we have not been advertising at all.”
He further adds, “We also did some web series with TVF. That campaign had about 4 million-plus views and it speaks about the importance of financial planning, investing, and planning for taxes. In terms of brand awareness, we had a lift-off of about 4.5x and in terms of brand searches, it went up by about 2x. So on the basis of that, we have now launched two more new campaigns. One is ‘Meri Azadi, which is about a retirement fund and the whole premise of the campaign is that retirement is not a point of age, but a state of mind. The other campaign which we really feel can become iconic is ‘Ek Aur SIP Ho Jaye” the pun is on the word SIP which also means having a sip and celebrating moments of joy, as much as remembering that you need to invest regularly.”
Besides good reception from consumers, says Murthy, their distributors too were ecstatic about the campaigns and that Tata Mutual Funds was finally advertising again.
The company was clear about the marketing mix from the start - 70 percent of their ad spends were directed towards digital medium while the rest was spent on OOH. Murthy, explains, “Why do we want to go with such a mix is because hoardings allow me a presence in a particular place, and it sort of distills in the public memory, while digital medium was preferred because it was a smaller marketing budget, and digital allows us to do multiple things and at the same time test, tweak and go back again, etc. Secondly, digital is also preferred because of the viability of the content. If I make a good film, and I pass it on to a WhatsApp kind of platform it allows my distributors to also go out and amplify it further. So when we work on our campaigns, it's a B2B2C kind of an effort.”
Personalisation is perhaps one of the biggest strength of digital advertising and the Tata Mutual Fund campaigns used that to their advantage to touch base with their target audience. Says Murthy, “We are consciously trying to break stereotypes. When you look at most of the advertising which comes out in the BFSI space, and even if you look at their webspace, the protocol is that the man is being prescriptive to the woman as if she does not understand her finances. So we have communicated that the woman also knows how she wants to invest. The second audience that we have actively targeted is the millennial segment. Nowadays, the concept of permanent employment is gone, with more and more millennials coming into the workforce the entire thing is going into cyclical employment. That being the case, it is important for them to understand how do they go out and invest. The third set of people whom we are actively targeting are professionals and people who are in the working space.”
On the inclusion of regional markets, he says, “We are also focusing on the B30 markets where we see a lot of play of vernacular. And we are consciously changing our communication. And even on day zero when we sit and work on our communication, we first think Bharat or vernacular, and then we go out and say okay, let's look at it in English now.”
As a staunch supporter of everything digital, Murthy believes the future digital trends to watch out for are the three V’s, which is video, voice and vernacular. And given the rate at which consumers are adapting to technology he has a word of advice for marketers, “This whole thing of digital marketing should be erased and we should say digital is marketing. Because my TV has moved to my phone, my email has moved to my phone, my chat has moved to my phone. And if that is the place that everything converges, then you need to think and first put the consumer at the centre and ask yourself -where is the consumer sitting and spending maximum office time? It is on the mobile. Then let's go a step further and say don’t say digital marketing say digital and say mobile. So change the M of marketing to saying mobile let's work backward from mobile. Can I hear, can I see, can I text, can I share and then start building your communication content putting the mobile in the centre.”
