We didn't want our promotion to be like a TV reality show: Anisha Motwani

Interview with Director & CMO, Max Life Insurance

What has been the most interesting sales promotion you have engineered so far?

The Max Life Insurance i-genius programme takes the definition of sales promotion to a whole new level. We believe that it is important for children to not only do well in academics but also explore extra-curricular activities. The aim of our promotion was to recognise and encourage such talent in children through a scholarship, which we started in 2010. Since the beginning of this promotion, our communication with our customers has been through social media websites and our official blogs. The last three editions of i-genius have seen more than 20 lakh registrations.

Who was the primary target for the promotion?

The target audience was children from third to eighth grades. This was an inclusive programme with the intention to reach out to as many children in the country. Yes, we had to communicate with parents in this regard but essentially this was a unique promotion that was aimed at eventually encouraging conversations related to all-round development of children, thereby building a strong affinity for the brand.

How was the promo designed ?

It had to be simple. So we had just six simple fields for students to enrol easily into the programme. There were online exams, customised especially to test the children's lateral and visual thinking, general knowledge, reasoning and creativity through a combination of objective and subjective questions. The final two stages required children to submit their bio-data highlighting not only their academic qualifications but also extra-curricular achievements.

The campaign allowed us to judge the candidates impartially. We also realised the importance of having a panel of judges from different fields and besides quiz master Derek O'Brien, educationist and ex-chairman of ICSE board Neil O'Brien, musician Palash Sen and author Ruskin Bond were included in the jury.

What were the challenges?

We didn't want our promotion to be like a reality show where it was all about competing with one another. Our focus was to give each child the platform to showcase his or her own talent without making anyone feel like blatant winners or losers. Yes, we wanted to find out the best but we didn't want anyone to feel like they had lost. This was the best way to generate stickiness with the brand. We wanted to communicate that this platform was a formidable one where participation meant winning.

We had to reach out to a large community of schools and parents to get their children registered into the programme. Our distribution partners also contacted their customers for eligible candidates.

Another challenge was that communication in the insurance category usually takes place offline. But we decided to bring customers to the digital medium. This posed the operational challenge of migrating customers to the digital platform. But our team managed to deliver.

Who partnered in it?

Our distribution channels were our partners in this initiative to help us get more participants.

How successful was the campaign?

We go to about 700 schools in less than three months every year to get their children registered in the programme. Till date, we have reached over 2,000 schools in about 70 cities.

Don't sales promotions harm a brand in the long term?

We are confident that the business benefits over the long run will far outweigh the expenses incurred during the programme. The brand engagement through this campaign has been tremendous and we are already planning its fourth edition. This shows us the campaign's success.