Financial brands getting the message right on radio

With the last quarter of the financial year underway, financial brands have become active on various communications channels. Radio is a medium that is being tapped in interesting ways by financial brands.

Talking about the effectiveness of radio for financial brands, Sanjoy Chakrabarty, Managing Partner, ZenithOptimedia, pointed out, “Most of the financial brands are targeted at the male working class population in metros and mini-metros. Radio is the most interactive medium when this population is on transit. That’s where we see financial brands positioning response driven messages in their radio campaigns. Radio also generates captive action amongst the listeners. closing the loop of campaign communication.”

Customising radio message
Visa is currently running two radio campaigns for its Visa Bill Pay service and Visa Debit e-commerce offer. Both the campaigns have situational humour as the core communication message and has been used to create a sharp connect with the audience. The Visa Bill Pay campaign focuses on “one click” as the theme and is currently running in three markets – Delhi Mumbai and Bangalore – till February 6. As part of a contest, two highest spenders on Visa Bill Pay can win an iPod every hour between 10 am and 10 pm. The Visa Debit e-commerce campaign, which started from December 1, 2011, will be on air on radio till March 31, 2012, and is being carried out across seven markets – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. As part of the campaign, Visa Debit cardholders who make at least three transactions of Rs 100 each during the promotion period stand to win an iPad or get cash back.

Commenting on the radio campaign, Shubhranshu Singh, Marketing Director, India & South Asia, Visa, said, “Radio allows brands to tailor their campaign messages phase wise with instant effectiveness. Our current radio campaigns are completely consumer engagement driven. Our priority is to alert the ear of the consumer about the various offers that we have, along with our product feature. Radio is definitely a value for money medium of communication. Apart from being just a supporting medium of communication, we have used message innovations for our campaigns which are radio centric.”

Using it at the right time
As part of an aggressive entry at the national level, Muthoot Group had promoted the brand during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Season 3, where Muthoot Finance was the associate sponsor of the Delhi Daredevils team. For the upcoming IPL Season 4, Muthoot Finance is the principal sponsor of the Delhi Daredevils. Muthoot Finance has also launched product specific ads featuring its brand mascots, two elephants called Mattu and Mittu, who communicate features like 1 per cent interest, value for gold and so on. This particular campaign will go on air across all FM radio channels from mid-February onwards.

Commenting on Muthoot’s radio campaign, Cherian Peter, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, The Muthoot Group, said, “We consider radio as a supporting medium of communication for our big property association and also for our various phase wise campaigns. This helps us to sustain our brand message at the right time to our core consumers.”

Strong supporting medium of communication
Mapping research insight to product benefit, the theme of Kotak Life’s new brand campaign – ‘Another you’ – nudges listeners to think of how her/his life would change for the better had there been another her or him, using impressively shot visuals spanning different everyday and easy to relate scenarios played to a catchy jingle inspired by the hit song ‘Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye’ from the Hindi movie ‘Qurbani’. The ‘Another you’ here is a personification of the Kotak Assured Income Plan and the certainty of regular and guaranteed additional income that it offers. The campaign will run for five weeks.

Elizabeth Venkataraman, Senior Vice President, Head of Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd, divulged, “Radio will account for about 4 per cent of our campaign budget this year. The budget share for radio broadly corresponds to that in our previous campaign. The radio campaign is on in eight metros – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.”