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Insurtech platform Plum has launched comprehensive healthcare and wellness benefits for employees called "Plum Perks". It comprises more than 50 health and wellness brands such as The Whole Truth, Good Bug, Cosmix, Nua Health, Pee Safe, Cloudnine, Supertails, Heads up for Tails, The Sleep Company, Toothsi, HealthifyMe, PharmaEasy, Orange Health, Khayaal, Clove Dental, Lenskart, Tata 1mg and more.  

The insurtech firm said that the users can gain access to discounts and free subscriptions from top brands.

“Plum Perks is a combination of what customers want and savings amounting to Rs 30,000 (annually at an average for a user) in terms of discounts that they can avail. The benefits have been highly curated based on our own behavioural research and consumer consumption patterns. Plum has hence narrowed down our offerings into five categories: Food and nutrition, self-care, health, fitness and active living and family care,” said Saurabh Arora, CTO and Head of Healthcare at Plum. 

<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-marketing/bharti-axa-life-insurance-onboards-1000-new-employees-40-being-women-37242.htm">Bharti AXA Life Insurance onboards 1000 new employees, 40% being women</a>

Founded in 2019, Plum offers employee wellness solutions and business insurance solutions to more than 3,500 firms.

"With access to the best doctors, thorough assessments, and invaluable information through curated content and expert-led webinars, Plum is dedicated to supporting our users' health and wellness journey," said Jayanth Ganapathy - VP Healthcare at Plum.  

<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/sbi-general-insurance-appoints-naveen-chandra-jha-as-md-and-ceo-35699.htm">SBI General Insurance appoints Naveen Chandra Jha as MD and CEO</a>

The company claimed that its Telehealth has now logged 59,100 consultations in the past year, with over 16,000 health assessments taken up since its launch in January 2024.

Plum launches Perks, onboards over 50 brands on insurtech platform

To diversify workforce composition, Bharti AXA Life Insurance has hired 1,000 new employees of which 400 are women. The company said the move is a part of its effort to promote financial inclusion, and improving gender diversity. The insurance company added, " The approach will not only address the need for more advisors but also emphasizes the importance of diversity in reaching and understanding a broad customer base".

In an initiative to diversify its workforce composition, Bharti AXA Life Insurance has strengthened its distribution network with 1,000 new hires of which 40% are women. The move is part of the company's broader effort to promote financial inclusion while enhancing gender diversity and empowering women within the insurance sector.

Bharti AXA Life, Nitin Mehta - Chief Distribution Officer - Partnership Distribution and Head Marketing said, “As part of its goal of ‘Insurance for all by 2047’, the industry is moving towards taking a proactive stance by implementing strategic recruitment initiatives that attract and retain talented women. In collaboration with this, we have recruited 1000 front-line sales personnel across channels in the last quarter, and look forward to further expanding and reaching the masses.”

"Empowering women in the insurance salesforce can not only bridge the gender gap within the industry but also propel its future growth.  By implementing strategic recruitment initiatives and nurturing talent, we aim to drive a shift in mindset – moving beyond tokenism, creating a genuinely inclusive work environment, and enabling women to become key drivers of financial inclusion," Dhanashree Thakkar, Head of Human Resources said.

Bharti AXA Life Insurance onboards 1000 new employees, 40% being women

Max Life Insurance has crossed the Rs1.5-lakh crore mark in assets under management (AUM) as of March 31, 2024. This reflects a growth rate of over 20 percent year-on-year. In the e-commerce market, Max Life holds the overall rank 2. The company has been leading the online protection market with a 28 percent share and ranks 2 in the savings market with an 18 percent share. Max Life's online channel continues to gain traction, with one out of every four new customers now acquired through this channel. Max Life maintains its leadership in the Claims Paid Ratio metric, with a ratio of 99.51 percent in FY23, as per the IRDAI Handbook on Indian Insurance Statistics 2022-23. 

In an exclusive conversation with Storyboard18, Rahul Talwar, Chief Marketing Officer, Max Life Insurance shares what Bharosa means for Max, how the insurance company has been targeting women, GenZs, the LGBTQIA community and the insights that came out from the studies - India Protection Quotient and India Retirement Index Study.

<strong>Can you take us through the current consumer insights and industry trends at the moment?</strong>

When you look at the previous quarter from January-March, the category tends to see a good amount of seasonality. That’s also because of certain habitual moments which are there in the larger understanding of the category where there is a play of a tax phenomenon that kicks in towards the end of the calendar year. Every year, we have seen post festivals and specifically this year post festivals and after the euphoria of the World Cup, the category always tends to be in an upswing. There was an earlier heightened intent and interest in having the right kind of life insurance because of the pandemic.

We recently concluded the sixth edition rollout of the India Protection Quotient in partnership with Kantar. About 5000 odd respondents from 25 cities representing urban India were surveyed and we found out that the number of Indians serious about financial protection has increased. Currently, there is more awareness and knowledge about life insurance; people are understanding that having the right kind of life insurance with the right amount of insurance or cover is important.

There are various needs for which they’re picking up life insurance. Those needs could be around life’s goals, children and long-term savings as well. Therefore, if you look at the category as a whole, it’s fairly buoyant.

<strong>What role does Bharosa play for Max Life?</strong>

Life insurance per se has been fairly a passive conversation. The traditional narrative of life insurance largely has been attached to uncertainty and insurance makes an entry during the absence of the breadwinner due to an unforeseen scenario.

Max Life has tried to anchor itself on a positive narrative. India being a fairly young country and hence longevity being fairly high; the aspirations that that Indians have and as they grow in life, the risk they would also keep growing in that sense. Max Life is trying to anchor itself in celebrating the breadwinner in keeping the narrative fairly positive versus the burdensome narrative of  the fear of death.

Secondly, Max Life is aiming to build a very proprietary narrative around trust because at the end of the day, our engagement and relationship with our present and potential customers is ideally for a fairly long duration. These relationships could start from five years running up to 40 years depending how soon do you end up buying life insurance or the right life insurance. Hence for Max Life, trust has been an important parameter to build itself on. We have tried to build out this entire narrative of Bharosa .

We rather try and land Bharosa in a fairly tangible way for our customers or consumers, and in the narrative, Bharosa gets manifested as the Bharosa of claims which is where Max Life Insurance is a beacon of trust where we have best in class claims paid ratio in the industry currently clocking a 99.51% as our claims paid ratio in FY 23, as per the recently introduced report from IRDAI. Second, in another category we would talk about the Bharosa of guaranteed returns which is again playing to this entire insight of Indians wanting better returns. On another long duration, looking at the lifelong income plans, we would speak about Bharosa of life-long income again when you try and look at your savings narrative running into retirement space.

For Max Life,  Bharosa has to be delivered keeping an imagery which is fairly stemming from real life heroes which is why we realized that universally if Indians buy into the passion and the emotion of Cricket, we try and extend that into our brand as imagery and which why we partnered with real-life couple Rohit Sharma and Ritika Sajdeh. Max Life has ensured that this entire narrative which should appeal to a young family which believes in mindful financial planning is able to be projected on screen or in our storytelling using both Rohit and Ritika. 

<strong>Could you help us understand the study?</strong>

We are keeping the customer at the centre of our communication and we want to be able to ensure that we are able to talk about the larger narrative for India, through thought leadership. We articulated two specific thought leader platforms. One of them was anchored in this entire space of protection or in a product category called term insurance. six years back we institutionalized this platform called the India Protection Quotient which is a partnership between Max Life Insurance and Kantar Research, giving us a barometer of how Indians are feeling around financial protection.

India Protection Quotient (IPQ) gives us critical data relating to the financial behavior, the savings pattern, attitudes and behaviours, and it also tells us how urban Indians are looking at their own financial preparedness. The one that we have just recently released talks about a significant increase in the knowledge levels of urban Indian respondents from 57 to 61.

We do a similar exercise in the retirement space. We understand that while today we are a younger country, retirement planning is an activity that should be undertaken by all well in time. For the same, we institutionalize another platform called the India Retirement Index Study (IRIS) which is basically an eye into the future.

The last edition of IRIS revealed that 9 in 10 urban Indians who are more than 50 years of age regret not starting early for financial planning keeping the retirement in mind. Another insight which was interesting was that 1 in 3 believe that their savings will last for only five years post-retirement, which is why they need to be prepared in terms of having better financial planning. Like IPQ, IRIS is also one of those platforms which allows us to understand nuances around these critical spaces of protection and retirement in a better way, and our product solutions, our customer experience plans, etc. then anchored around the insights that stem from these kinds of thought leadership platforms.

<strong>How are you guys catering to a diverse demographic of customers like working women, the Gen Z, the LGBTQIA community and such?</strong>

If you were to look at our stated vision, our stated vision would be articulated as wanting to be the most admired life insurance company by protecting the financial future of ‘all’ of our customers. The reason that I emphasize on ‘all’, is to be able to highlight the inclusiveness that we have for these newer cohorts which are newer in terms of their participation in these conversations, but they’ve always been there.

For example, working women, Gen Z, and now going forward even LGBTQIA+ community. One of the reasons of why we embraced our partnership with both Rohit Sharma and Ritika Sajdeh on the brand was to ensure an active participation of the women representation in financial decision making.

Again, initiatives like IPQ and IRIS would have a complete double click of not only the demographics or gender pieces between male female or urban tier 1, tier 2, but it would definitely be able to give us deep insights around working women, millennials, Gen Zs. And specifically, if you talk about IPQ sixth edition, we’ve truly gone a step further to become more inclusive by also doing a specific module around the LGBTQIA+ community as well and insights for that are going to be rolled out sometime later this month.

We also went ahead and did this entire partnership with the Mumbai Indians Women Premier Leagues team. The idea again being that women as a partner in this financial planning journey and their role in decision making needs to be spoken about. 

<strong>How is Max leveraging new edge tech for better customer experiences? </strong>

We have been able to ensure that the tech enablers have allowed us to look at creation of end-to-end personalized videos, and messaging among others to be able to ensure that when we are making the right representations to our customers, either directly or via our sellers, we have customized selling pitches available.  Moments marketing happens to be again one of those big marketing use cases where this technology has allowed us to ensure that we get to a high degree of personalization.

If you were to look at our relationships with our customer, these are for fairly long drawn durations and to ensure that over this duration, we have a good engagement going in with our customers we want to be able to use these technologies of AIs and personalized videos to ensure that we are delivering differentiated experiences for them.

Again, vernacular for a mass retail brand like ourselves is important because we cut across all geographies and we always know that vernacular tends to play that much extra when it comes to engagement. So, all in all, we are ensuring that we try and use technology to not only become better at the backend, but also to be able to ensure that we take the right communication mix to our customers. 



 

Max Life Insurance's Rahul Talwar on building a proprietary narrative around trust


Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Ltd. (Tata AIA), has launched a new campaign called ‘Karlo Shaadi Ki Poori Taiyaari’. Through tongue-in-check humour, the campaign relates the excitement pertaining to shopping for one’s wedding and the importance of comprehensive financial planning with life insurance.


The campaign released across select OOH hoardings but circulated extensively over social media channels, has garnered a very encouraging response. Though the hoardings are limited in numbers, their smart placement (e.g. next to a jewelry shop brand or wedding suit brand), simple but cheeky messaging has led to the campaign going viral and being shared by consumers across the country.  The campaign has reached an audience of over 3 million within just 6 days of the campaign.



Explaining the thought behind the campaign, Girish Kalra, chief marketing officer, Tata AIA Life Insurance, said, “Marriage is an auspicious event that marks the beginning of an exciting chapter in one’s life. It also means the need to prepare for a financially secure future, for our life-long partner. Our new campaign "Karlo Shaadi Ki Poori Taiyaari" aims to blend the excitement of wedding and the importance of long-term financial security in a playful way.”



“Our endeavour is to partner our consumers and enable them to be Taiyaar (prepared) for all the moments (positive or negative) that life has to offer. With our term insurance solutions, guarantee income products, wealth creation plans or retirement offerings, we ensure our consumers live a fikar-free (worry free) life," Kalra added. 


 
Yash Chandiramani, founder and  chief strategist, Admatazz, said, “With this campaign, we decided to crash weddings in a good way! We connected a life insurance plan as a natural element of the wedding checklist. Our approach was simple yet effective: place life insurance right where the wedding shopping is happening, with ads that catch your eye without weighing down the mood. We are thrilled with the response and glad to play a part in Tata AIA’s communication strategy that addresses serious stuff but in a light-hearted manner”.



Post its newly launched brand positioning ‘Har Waqt Ke Liye Taiyaar’ (prepared for all situations), Tata AIA has changed the way it communicates with consumers, using innovative humour and emotion to connect with consumers across life stages. The brand positioning now veers towards engaging with consumers to live life to the fullest, inspiring healthier, happier lives. Tata AIA now transitions into partnering with its consumers in every step and milestone of the life journey. 


The company aim's to ensure that India and Bharat understand the need of life insurance and invest adequately to protect what matters to them the most.

 

Tata AIA's 'Karlo Shaadi Ki Poori Taiyaari' campaign blends wedding excitement with financial planning

<strong>MAST
Senco Gold &amp; Diamonds - #WearYourPride
Agency: BANG ON Content
</strong>

The jewellery brand’s new campaign #WearYourPride is made in a way that encourages the LGBTQ+ community and also celebrates equal rights for all Mast &amp; Meh logogenders. The campaign shows the real life story of one of the brand's transwoman sales employees. With Rabindra Sangeet playing in the backdrop, the campaign has a clean script with zero drama. Unlike other campaigns that have represented the transgender community before, this ad does not show only the downsides of the struggle to find one’s identity. The campaign celebrates joy, love and freedom and shows how there is hope and opportunity, delivered in a non-preachy fashion. It gets a thumbs up for that.

<iframe title="Celebrating #PrideMonth 2022 with @Senco Gold &amp; Diamonds​" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bAepurAoRec" width="885" height="498" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

<strong>MEH
KFC - KFC Popcorn Nachos
Agency: Ogilvy
</strong>

The Kolonel… sorry, Colonel, has roped in filmmaker Karan Johar and actor Srinidhi Shetty to sell his latest chicken offering. Given the uniqueness of the product, the focus of the campaign is ‘Yeh snack nahi drama hai’. While the new popcorn range promises drama, unfortunately, there is no uniqueness or drama in the ad film. Quite a waste of two popular faces and the drama that they are capable of bringing to the coffee table.

<iframe title="Presenting the NEW KFC Popcorn Nachos!" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EgWbfGOsm78" width="885" height="498" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

<iframe title="Presenting the NEW KFC Popcorn Nachos!" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SpbvdVY-ivM" width="885" height="498" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

<strong>MAST
Livon - #ExpressWithPride
Agency: Ogilvy Content Force
</strong>

The most powerful changes happen when one truly accepts his/her authentic self and this is what the brand’s Pride Month campaign highlights. The Marico India owned hair serum brand features a host of young, opinionated and talented queer creators who have spoken their minds about a lot of pertinent issues, starting with what it’s like being non-binary in India to how their professional lives are impacted by their sexuality. The ad is authentic and breaks clutter amidst the Pride month promotions.

<iframe title="Presenting Uncut with Livon | Express with Pride" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/26j4qgU6qek" width="885" height="498" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

<strong>MEH
Digit Insurance - #DoTheDigitDigit
Agency: Stirred Creative Pvt Ltd.
</strong>

This new campaign is a classic example of how to not use a brand ambassador. The insurance company has hired one of the most sought after celebrity faces (Virat Kohli) and made an ad that could pass off as a travel/music or fashion apparel brand campaign. Kohli is seen shaking a leg to an anthem called “Digit Dance” talking about how over three crore Indians all across the country placed their trust in this brand to insure their health, car, bike and travel. This one didn’t come across as music to one’s ears.

<iframe title="Virat Kohli &amp; 3 Cr Indians are dancing to #DoTheDigitDigit | A Digit Insurance Musical" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WExGdAe5kFU" width="885" height="498" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

<strong>MAST
GoDaddy - Become Visible with GoDaddy
Agency: Tilt Brand Solutions
</strong>

The makers of this ad have made efforts to strike a different creative chord. Vocal for local is a narrative that many companies have adopted – both from a product and communications point of view. The internet domain registrar and web hosting company, GoDaddy, has made a point to address how unique local stores are getting lost in the cluttered online marketplaces. You see a carpet, a set of cups and saucers dancing around, a harmonium, and other products coming into life but their owners are invisible. The protagonist then emphasized on the fact that not having an online presence will make them invisible sooner or later. A harsh truth scripted well.

<iframe title="Become Visible with GoDaddy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z963CwBNhBs" width="885" height="498" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

<strong>MEH
RummyCircle - #RahoEkKadamAage
</strong>

This spot by RummyCircle has everything that should be bottled up and thrown into the ocean. A suited celebrity playing rummy. Trippy music. Dialogues that seem to be out of a TEDx speech. Graphics that look out of place. A cringe-worthy climax which made us question the existence of this brand. At a time when there is intense competition between online gaming brands, this commercial is nothing but a waste of a few crores out of the company’s marketing budget.

<iframe title="Raho Ek Kadam Aage - Win Mega Prizes I RummyCircle X Hrithik Roshan" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UXovOS9Xt_I" width="885" height="498" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

<strong>MAST
Gillette India - #EngineeringChange
Agency: Grey India
</strong>

Former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela had once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” This brand presents compelling and impactful storytelling around those famous words. The ad film showcases the journey of Prashant Gade, an engineer-turned-social entrepreneur and founder of NGO Inali Foundation, who questions the purpose of his education when he spots an amputee struggling to shave his face. As the film showcases his journey that is laced with self-introspection, one can see him take the bold step of leaving his safety net and creating something meaningful and useful for someone else. He succeeds in bringing a smile on the face of an amputee who can now feel the shaving stick in his hand. #EngineeringChange stays true to the brand’s purpose.

<iframe title="Engineering Change - Shaving Stereotypes | Gillette India" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xY7MqbzpH48" width="885" height="498" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

<strong>MEH
Sanfe - #sanferazorlution
Agency - In-house
</strong>

A woman is seen prepping for her date by shaving her sideburns. As much as the message of the campaign is to normalise and bust myths surrounding ‘facial shaving’ for women between 18-35, it would have been more interesting if the campaign adopted a more truthful approach by also highlighting the side effects of shaving, and skipping lines like, ‘Wow! You are so soft.’ At a time when so many women are looking to feel comfortable in their own skin, with many brands claiming to help them along that journey, seeking validation in the eyes of others seems a tad passe.

<iframe title="Sanfe Face Razors Women | Safe No Pain Facial Hair Removal |Facial Shaving Myths |#sanferazorlution" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/93Bd3D46gmc" width="885" height="498" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

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Mast & Meh: Gillette, GoDaddy, KFC, Livon, Digit Insurance, Rummy Circle - who came out on top?

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