HDFC Life unveils a new Children’s Plan campaign

Urging parents to start financial planning early on to secure their child's future financial needs

HDFC Life, one of India's leading life insurance companies, today announced the launch of its new marketing campaign on Children’ Plans.

Announcing the launch, Sanjay Tripathy, EVP & Head – Marketing & Direct Channels, HDFC Life said, "Every parent's priority is securing the child's future and being able to meet their dreams and aspirations. Costs are increasing rapidly and providing quality education is getting expensive. HDFC Life, having successfully differentiated their brand all these years, with this campaign takes on the larger objective of building a category for Children’s plans. It intends to trigger the need for financial planning for children in parents who hitherto have not given it the due importance in helping them aid their child's future financial needs or have been oblivious of the competitive realities in today's world.”

Commenting on the creative idea Mr. Tripathy added, “Keeping up with the competitive scenario, students these days are consistently performing well in academics resulting in higher number of applications as compared to seats available. Recent media reports indicated that India’s gross enrolment ratio is only 12.4%, which is abysmally low as compared to the global average of 27%. The insight for this campaign is rooted  from the realities which parents of grown up children face today - despite their children excelling academically, the child is forced to compromise on career paths as parents can't afford professional courses or premium institutions.”

K.V. Sridhar, National Creative Director, Leo Burnett, said, "In today's competitive environment with increasing education expenses a child's best efforts may still not be enough to guarantee him a seat or admission into prestigious institutes. A parent's role, therefore, has increased manifold to support the child in achieving his dreams.  Thus, it was imperative to make the parents realize that in order to secure their child's tomorrow they have to plan today."

The campaign that sprouted from this idea sees the father proudly showing his daughter's report card with 'A+' grades to his friend (Avi). Congratulating his friend’s daughter, Avi inquires his friend with concern on what has he planned for his daughter's future. To which the father confidently replies that she's capable to achieve her own dreams. Avi, acting as the protagonist, elaborates on the current competitive scenario and inflationary educational costs where good grades are not enough to guarantee admission in a premium institution. The father realizes the gravity of the situation and realizes that he has to plan today to secure his daughter's future financial needs – a thought articulated as “Kal Ki Socho, Sar Utha Ke Jiyo” in a powerful surround campaign. The uniqueness of this campaign is that it manages to address the issue of 'uncertainty' & 'need to plan for future' in a very light hearted manner and yet delivers the message effectively. At the same time, retains the core essence of the brand i.e. 'Self Respect' & 'Financial Independence'.

HDFC Life plans to take its new campaign through different platforms and intensify the brand experience. Apart from television, this film will be supported by other mediums such as print, radio, OOH, Internet, mobile. This campaign will additionally be supported through its huge activation platform, HDFC Life Spell Bee, which is being carried across 25 cities in more than 1200 schools reaching out to around 5 Lakh school children.

Campaign Credits:
Creative agency - Leo Burnett, Mumbai
Creative Director - Rupesh Kashyap
Copywriter - Rupesh Kashyap, Nitesh Tiwari and Kumar Suryavanshi
Art Director - Reema Noronha
Production House - White Onion Films
Director - E Niwas

Note to Editor:
Prominent media reports on India’s poor Gross Enrolment Ratio:-

http://www.businessworld.in/bw/2010_08_13_On_Course_For_A_Wiser_India.html?offset=0&max=1

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Layout/Includes/TOINEW/ArtWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM%2F2010%2F08%2F01&GZ=T&ViewMode=HTML&EntityId=Ar00100&AppName=1

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Too-few-seats-too-many-students-for-vocational-courses/Article1-581528.aspx

About HDFC Life:
HDFC Life, one of India’s leading private life insurance companies, offers a range of individual and group insurance solutions. It is a joint venture between Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC), India’s leading housing finance institution and Standard Life plc, the leading provider of financial services in the United Kingdom.

HDFC Life’s product portfolio comprises 25 solutions, which meet various customer needs such as Protection, Pension, Savings, Investment and Health. Customers have the added advantage of customizing their plans, by adding optional benefits called riders, at a nominal price.

Apart from several retail and group products in its portfolio, the company also has five optional rider benefits catering to the savings, investment, protection and retirement needs of customers. HDFC Life continues to have one of the widest reaches with more than 500 branches servicing customer needs, along with a strong base of Financial Consultants.