Aegon Religare: Child support

A chubby 18-month-old boy is seen making moves with a football. The jersey he’s wearing has white and blue stripes of Argentina. The moves could put to shame those of Diego Maradona. As the boy moves the ball from his thighs to his head, shoulders and back, a voiceover tells viewers that if they wish to make their child a footballer, then they should invest in Aegon Religare’s child plans. Another commercial of the campaign shows the child playing a musical instrument with dexterity.

It’s only been a year, but life insurer Aegon Religare has already launched three campaigns. The first advertisement was Kam Insurance Lene ki Bimari (the problem of taking inadequate insurance cover) which was followed up by a campaign with actor Irfan Khan for pension plans.

The market for life insurance is tough. State-owned Life Insurance Corporation is the only player in the market doing well because people feel their money is safe with it. Private insurers have had a rough time in the last year or so.

This time round, the brief given to the Aegon Religare’s agency, Contract, was to capture the insight on parents in a clutter-breaking manner. “There was a time when parents decided the profession of their child; today, they let their kids do what they like,” explains Aegon Religare Director (branding and communication) Pradeep Pandey. “Aegon Religare will be the financial enabler to help realise a child’s dreams.”

The key thus was to execute the ad differently. To that end, the company roped in VHQ of Singapore. The creative team auditioned as many as 100 babies in the defined age group. Following that, it selected a handful for the role. The shortlisted children were made to play with a football and a guitar. The footage was captured on camera and their movements were carefully observed. A still shoot was also done. The footage was then taken to VHQ where the team created images using computer graphics to match the babies.

Predictably, the campaign is an all-round 360-degree one that includes television, print, digital, radio and outdoor. On the digital space, the campaign will be promoted across social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter as well as a specially created microsite. The film, which took about two months to make, has been shot by Shiven Surendranath of Old School Films.

In its first year of business, Aegon Religare hopes to achieve a premium of Rs 215 crore. So far, it has sold 23,000 policies and made Rs 46.3 crore in premium. To boost its presence, the company has added 10,000 agents and 300 sales staff.