Tugging at your heart strings

Just consider a recent example: A Union Bank of India ad (created by Mudra) shows a little girl who has lost a tooth, being consoled by her older brother. The ad drives home a message of dreams that are shared.

There are many such instances of ads for PSUs that have resorted to either celebrities as brand ambassadors, or, have driven home the point with an emotive connect. What’s the big story here? “In insurance, the competition has intensified and it’s important to build an emotional connect,” says D. Rajappa, President, Everest Brand Solutions, part of the Rediffusion Group. Everest has worked on the advertising of Indian Overseas Bank. Its brief was to create an emotive ad that highlighted the trust the bank enjoys with its customers.

Says Ashvin Parekh, National Leader (Financial Services), Ernst & Young: “Banking ads have been very product-led in the past, but people are savvier now. They need a bigger reason to connect. Also, we have noticed that often, the advertising for a bank is triggered off by a very specific motive.” The motive is usually a rebranding exercise or a name change.

The best examples are those of Bank of Baroda, which used cricketing icon Rahul Dravid to re-position its brand and Axis Bank, which changed from its earlier avatar of UTI Bank. Sometimes, of course, the other trigger could be something as big as the WTO pact (that will see the entry of more competition in the financial services segment next year). “PSU banks have ensured that foreign banks do not go one up on them by acting as a ‘banker’s bank’ and have upgraded their offerings as well,” Parekh says. Observers suggest that by 2009, ways of communication could get more specific in banking and ads will, perhaps, talk of specific strengths.

In insurance, too, competitives pressures have led to ads with an emotive connect. This is already visible in ads of firms like Max New York Life where the parents of a child get the baby to say “Czechoslovakia” as the catch-line says Karo Zyada ka Irada (Decide on More). The ad has been done by Ogilvy & Mather. A similar ad by Contract for Aegon Religare Life Insurance harps on KILB (Kam Insurance Lene ki Bimari; or the disease of taking in less insurance). Clearly, there’s a point being made here.

—Shamni Pande