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For Your Better Half

The dry and morbid subject of life insurance makes it difficult to talk light-heartedly about it. The other option is to tell a soppy tale. So when a brand is able to strike the right mix, it does catch the eye

Banasree Purkayastha

Campaign: Retirement Solutions

Brand: Max Life Insurance Retirement Plans

Company: Max Life Insurance Company Limited

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather

The Campaign

The ad opens with a middle-aged lady handing over a towel to her husband, who is in the bathroom, all the while admonishing him for forgetting to take his towel everyday all through their 40 years of marriage. She rhetorically asks him what he will do when she is no longer around. Coming out of the bathroom, the man cheerfully replies that although he hasn?t thought about that, he has thought of what she will do when he?s not around? he tells her that she will have all their monthly retirement income and can have fun. A voiceover says, ?Jab monthly income ho aapke liye, aur aapke baad aapki wife ke liye, toh masto to hogi hi? (When you have monthly income for yourself and for your wife after you, fun is assured). The next shot shows the two all ready to step out of the house when their son enters. The father tells him that they?re going to listen to Gujarati poetry. He explains to the perplexed son that though they don?t know Gujarati, they do know how to clap. The film ends with the brand?s ?Aapke Sacche Advisor? message and the statutory disclaimer.

Along with the TV campaign, there is a multi-faceted digital campaign to engage consumers with contests, games and advertising around spousal retirement.

Our Take

We have seen it with our parents, with older relatives, the fear masked in friendly banter that comes out in the form of ?when I am not around?. This Max Life Insurance ad takes up that oft-used admonishment and builds around it a nice solution?when you are no longer around, it is that regular income that will keep your spouse in style. The perfect casting?this protagonist couple made previous Max Life commercials memorable?gives an authentic look ensuring empathy for the brand. The way the ad ends with the couple ready to spend the night partying says it all?with no financial worries, they can afford to have a blast!

Given that there is a whole set of rules guiding the insurance business, there isn’t much space for one life insurance brand to be different from another. The dry and morbid subject also makes it difficult to talk light-heartedly about it. The other option is to tell a soppy tale. So when a brand is able to strike the right mix, it does catch the eye.

Most life insurance based pension plan ads attempt to communicate the importance of maintaining lifestyle post retirement. According to a study by Max Life, only 44% of the respondents claimed to have saved enough for their spouse, an irony given that only 28% of the respondents have started investing for retirement. This campaign draws from that insight, going beyond the generic communication in the retirement planning category to talk about the spouse, and the impact on her, and thus is able to create a space for itself with its relevant, targetted message.

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First published on: 01-10-2013 at 22:08 IST
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