A full page ad in The Times of India does not automatically guarantee impact and memorability. Maruti EECO anyone? The one that made an impact recently was the full page ad for Apollo Munich Health Insurance. The promise of a simple health insurance product was brought alive well.
From the font of the key number, this appears to be a JWT ad. Now as a late entrant in the already cluttered Insurance category it is critical to make a differentiated offering. Something to build salience. While the promise of an ‘uncomplicated’ insurance is likely to resonate only too well with consumers, the ad leaves a lot unanswered. How exactly do they make Health Insurance uncomplicated? Recently, Bharti Axa General Insurance took a similar stance – attempting to re-position competitive offers as insensitive towards the consumer and Bharti Axa as the one that takes the stress out of insurance. They outlined the promise of ‘cashless facility’ and ‘no medical checkups upto 55 years of age’ as the justification for the claim. Such promises (in fact similar promises) get a mention in the press ad. Yet the simplicity and starkness of the print ad execution makes it work.
Does the same idea & personality get transferred on to the other touch points? Can’t say from the website since it is not ready yet. I would imagine the financial services segment relies heavily on information from the company website, online reviews and blog posts to form an opinion and make the final decision on purchase. The website (designed by Quasar) only points to the old website of Apollo DKV, which naturally has no reference to the new claim.
The TVC is slick, well executed (India’s first locally produced installation-art based film, say the YouTube blurb) but again – only offers claims: let’s take the fear out of faces, jargon out of words, bitter out of medicine and the trouble out of treatment. And the shiny-happy people kind of treatment is very different from the no-nonsense, business like competitive stance of the print ad.
Maybe this phase is about setting up the theme and the actual facts of how they ‘uncomplicate’ will soon be revealed. And they will be different from what we’ve already heard before in this category?
6 Comments
Hi. Thank you for taking the time to review and comment on this ad. As part of the Apollo Munich marketing team, I can indeed confirm that this is phase 1 of the campaign. Starting around Jan 31, the campaign will move into the 'FEATURES' segment, and give people reasons to believe on how we can uncomplicate health and health insurance. Look forward to your comments at that time. Having said all that, Let's Uncomplicate is as much a rallying cry within our organization as a mere positioning statement. To that end, it is a journey we have to progress on every day, and that is what we are striving to do.
Thanks for clarifying that the "uncomplicating" features are yet to be revealed. It would have helped if the otherwise very impressive ad had at least revealed this much!
Anyway, shall wait patiently for the next release, to find out how.
I called the number in this ad. Despite a promise that they would insure people with pre-existing conditions, I was told by the company that I could not be insured!!! So much for Uncomplicated Insurance!!!
Akshaya, I don't know the specifics but given how the insurance industry functions, rejections are bound to happen. A proposition like 'uncomplicated' put more pressure on the system within the company to stay true to it.
Its a great looking campaign so far. Will to interesting to see how it all comes together once the later phases release.
Lots of health insurers seem to be promoting themselves in terms of how easy it is to join and the size of their cashless networks etc. Lots of customers can probably testify that when they actually need their insurance, it suddenly becomes far more complicated.
Lets see if this turns out to be just another sales pitch, or whether as LecterH says, this is a case of real company policies being reflected in the marketing.
I guess the company has to go a long way. The website takes almost 10 minutes to load.. it does, but almost tkes half a day to load. I think their speed of insurance cover delivery is also just like this..
The ad campaign is the TVs is going waste and the company should realise this.
I, for one, have moved to other vendors.. Totally disappointed!!!