‘The propensity of our TG to consume TV news is very high’

As part of its Women’s Day initiatives, ICICI Lombard introduced two women-centric offerings this year. Sheena Kapoor, Head Marketing, Corporate Communications & CSR- ICICI Lombard speaks in-depth about the brand’s approach towards advertising and how TV News gives brands access to consumers.

What was the idea behind the initiatives that ICICI Lombard launched for women?

We have launched two campaigns. The first one was a more women centric offering from the ICICI Lombard stable in which we were offering 24*7 motor and road safety assistance for the first 10,000 women across the country, irrespective of whether they are policy holders or not. In case they have a car breakdown, an emergency pickup, etc when they are stranded somewhere, women can simply contact us. We would have somebody to assist them. We are also offering complimentary diagnostic health check-ups for women across the country. It is on a first come first serve basis for the first 10,000 women.

Over and above this, for our women centric channel partners and brokers, we have embarked on a women centric recruitment campaign. The idea behind it is to encourage and promote SME women entrepreneurs. Along with this, we are also offering knowledge-based training workshops and series to impart training and to empower women with necessary tools so that they are able to go out and sell in the market to their customers.

What was the media mix of the campaign?

We have launched our product led campaign, specifically for our health insurance products called Health Advantage Plus and Be Fit Cover. It is a combination of these two products and there are two films, which are running on multimedia standpoints. It is live on Television, Digital and Social. The idea behind it was to use the plank of human insight as the proposition. The campaign received a humongous response as ICICI Lombard was the first in the industry to launch cashless OPD cover.

Which medium do you aggressively use for your brand visibility and why? Can you elaborate on how you allocate your marketing budget on various platforms?

We plan the media mix depending on what the objective of the campaign is. For instance, if I have to drive up down the road for a flagship of ILTakeCare, I would focus predominantly on Digital or on mobile advertising to convert more and faster. We have better micro-targeting, segmenting, and better efficiencies of scale. The way I look at campaigns is that, I observe the metrics in terms of overall awareness and driving brand reach. Then we typically look at an omnichannel media strategy. We look at multiple touchpoints because I always believe that going for an integrated marketing approach always works better than a narrow, one-pointed communication strategy.

How do you bifurcate spends on advertising?

It differs according to the campaign objective. For example, our current campaign is a product campaign. So my objective here is a mix of having to drive conversions and generate policy codes, because finally I want the consumer to land on either the call to action or visit ILTakeCare app which is our mobile app solution or the website. In this case, I definitely will have about 45 to 50% of the spends going towards Digital. But given that I want to also bring in that awareness and reach to increase the overall visibility, I have to also include television in my marketing mix.

TV news is a very popular medium of communication due to its reach and loyal viewers. Do you think brands should advertise more on TV as compared to other media platforms?

I have been very focused and narrowed down on television, given that it's also an expensive buy.   The reason why we choose news channels as the medium is because we know that the news genre enjoys high affinity among viewers and I can target the right customer segment or TG with it. For instance, mid last year, we had launched an entirely industry first campaign which was targeted at the SMEs Business Insurance Solution. We went with the communication which wasn't product led. With this campaign our objective was clearly about building affinities with the SME customer base and the target audience. And so, ICICI Lombard took a heavy television approach and kept the Digital spends limited. The brand took a 360-degree approach and also included Print and Radio as the mediums to reach the right target audience.

Can you share some insights on how you market your brand via TV?

Globally, Television is the predominant medium for reaching out to masses. In India, 2022 was probably the first time when Digital overtook television as a medium. Yet, even today, if your primary objective is to have massive awareness and scale Television is still one of the best mediums. That being said, it's also very expensive. It has a higher cost of acquisition. It also has a higher spill over. Adding to this, there is the challenge of attribution and tracking from the conversion perspective.

On television, I prefer mainly the news genre, because we are targeting the 25 to 40-year-old male. The propensity of this segment to consume news channels is very high.  Also, compared to the GECs, the news genre is not as expensive.        

Is news TV considered in the marketing mix specifically during slowdowns? What are your views on this?

Someone who is a loyal consumer of news will do so whether or not it's an economic downturn or whether or not it is the ‘India shining story’ at its speed. There are those who will swear by the morning newspaper because they are hardcore news readers. Television allows news to be presented in an interesting audio-visual format, which is always a lot more engaging, particularly the primetime shows. They have a loyal viewing, and that's got nothing to do with the economic slowdown.

Yes, there are business news channels which are targeted at the markets and the investor community. You have loyalists there as well - individuals and industries. We in the BFSI space are consuming business news content regularly because we want to keep abreast of what's happening. So, I don't really agree with the premise that it's only during the slowdown that advertisers look towards the news channels.

Who wins in the TV vs. Digital debate?

It should be seen in the context of the brand campaign and its objective. Both these factors are very important in deciding on our media strategy. While digital has overtaken traditional mediums, the latter are still around. Every medium has its pros and cons. For instance, on Digital I am not able to get the kind of reach and eyeballs that I can get on Print or Television. But there are many strengths to the Digital medium that the traditional media of advertising do not really provide. Getting the right media mix also depends on what life stage the brand is in - is it a new entrant, a challenger brand, etc. There are certain brands which do not advertise at all as well.

Can you tell us about the brand journey? What are some of the innovative marketing strategies you use to reach out to the masses?

ICICI Lombard completed about 21 years of its brand journey. We are the largest and number one private general insurer in the country. We are also the number two general insurer in the country. A lot of this has been built on our leadership stance and on the promise and strength of the brand. It has been a mix of having customer centricity alongside innovation in our DNA. This has been the cornerstone of the philosophy that ICICI Lombard stands for. It is reflected in the grand narrative of ‘Nibhaye Vaade’ which really is about fulfilling promises.  For the insurance category, customer centricity plays a huge role. Last year, our '#SalaamMSME' campaign was conceived around a new category and brand proposition.

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