THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY AT PRESENT AND

ITS IMPACT

1.1 ADVERTISING

The advertising agency responsible for IDBI Federal Lifes Ad

campaign is Ogilvy & Mather and the national creative director is
Abhijit Avasthi. The most prominent part of their campaign was the
television ad campaign which involves four short films including
Alley for Wealthsurance. This new campaign was launched after
IDBI Federal had to undergo a name change. The adverts had a hint
of humour in them which ensured that the viewer never forgot.
These advertisements were launched across a wide variety of
channels including news, movie and vernacular. All these
advertisements end with the line Jisne bhi suna, khareed liya
(Whoever heard of it bought it). They are followed by the question
Aap ne nahin suna? (Havent you heard?) For Incomesurance the
film A Suitable Boy was used which stressed on guaranteed
benefits and hence the line Guaranteed income ki exact
bhavishyavani.

While talking to a few subjects during my research I found out that

when they were asked about the company straight away they could
not be sure whether they had heard anything about it. A hint
towards the story line of the above said ads brought them right on
track and helped in gaining their interest.

According to Amish Tripathi national head marketing and

product management, "Our strategy has always been to focus on our products. We
believe our products are our differentiator and they add tremendous value to the
consumer. This time, weve tried to communicate those benefits of our products in a
humorous manner, where its a little more light-hearted. Otherwise, insurance films
can be a little heavy."

Below is an extract of an interactive session between Amish Tripathi and the 4Ps
Magazine which will throw a clearer light on their innovative techniques.

4Ps B&M: What is the thought behind your latest

campaign?
AT: Our consistent strategy has been to push our product
rather than our company. We have consistently focused on
designing innovative products, which provide superior value
to our customers. Therefore, it is to our advantage to keep
the customer focused on our specific offerings rather than
speak on emotional generalities. We were also clear that we
wanted our ads to be different from the usual emotional or
guilt-ridden insurance industry ads. So we have chosen to
present our product advantages using humour as a route.
The brochures taken out by the company are extremely detailed
and at the same time very easy to understand. The principle of
complete disclosure is followed so that the consumer is aware of all
the clauses involved and even the risk if any. The benefit is
explained with detail and useful suggestions are also given. This
immediately makes the reader feel that the company is something
credible and encourages them to ask further questions. This though
is a costly affair and massive circulation cannot be afforded as
printing these brochures is expensive.

1.2 SALES PROMOTIONS

IDBI Federal provides discount on premiums of sum assured higher

than Rs.4,00,000 for their Incomesurance Policy. They also have an
option of Waiver of premium wherein in the event that the proposer
dies the remaining premium is paid up by the company and the
benefits are received by the life assured.

1.3 EVENTS AND EXPERIENCES

IDBI Federal then IDBI Fortis was selected to sponsor the cricket
match between India and South Africa consisting of five One Day

Internationals. This was then called the IDBI Fortis Wealthsurance

Cup. It was followed by the IDBI Fortis Wealthsurance Twenty20.

They also sponsored the recent ZEE Cine Awards.

The company recently held a spelling bee competition on childrens

day on November 2010. It provided a natural opening for the
company to hold discussions with parents in terms of the financial
future and planning for their children.

1.4 PUBLIC RELATIONS AND PUBLICITY

IDBI Federal has a quarterly company magazine called

Interaction. It gives up to date information about the companys
progress and activities. It gives information about new publicity
efforts and expansion efforts in the form of new branches. The
annual report is also published regularly and communicated.

They recently joined hands with Samhita which is a community

development organisation working towards bringing financial
literacy to the underprivileged population of Madhya Pradesh.

They also have a channel on you tube showcasing all their

Television ads along with interviews and speeches by the heads of
the company.

1.5 DIRECT AND INTERACTIVE MARKETING

IDBI Federal has a well functioning website idbifederal.com. It

provides comprehensive information on the range of products and
has options for customers where they can track their Net Asset
Value. It also provides downloadable online brochures and

calculators which can be customised to calculate benefits according

to different premium capacities.

The most interesting component of the site is a humorous viral

involving two animated characters created by IDBI Federal namely
Happy and Lucky. Their aim is to educate the public on concepts
such as Human Life Value.

1.6 WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING

The communication strategies adopted along with the multiplicity

of the mediums ensure discussions and oral communication. IDBI
Federal leverages on its brand value too which makes it an even
more prominent and noticeable option.

1.7 PERSONAL SELLING

IDBI Federal is an insurance company therefore direct

communication through agents is the most important means of
communication for them. The company distributes its services
through the following channels Agency (retail branches), Alliances
(third party network), Banca (representatives working from banks),
and DST (Direct Selling). Each of its employees has to make four
new contacts per working day and a part of their salary is variable.
They have numerous promotional schemes for those who want to
become agents of the companys policies. This ensures constant
and competitive endeavours by the workforce to inform consumers
as well as they can. Therefore IDBI Federal has a strong network of
Promoters and Advisors in the areas they have covered.

As told by Amish Tripathi

With a wide reach of the two banks across their 1,380

branches all over the country and expanding, bancassurance
is our primary distribution channel. Having had such a strong
launchpad, we have 35 of our own branches making agency

channels contribute to over one third of our business. We

intend to increase our branch network to 55 in the current
fiscal year and our advisor strength to 15,000 to keep with
the growth momentum
From the above it can be seen that IDBI Federal has not focused much on
print media in terms of newspapers. The radio also has not been very much
explored. The company now has branches in 56 cities. Their network is ever
growing and efforts are constantly being made.
The fact still remains that many people are still un-reached due to lack of
agents in their areas or due to the fact that the information mediums they
prefer have not been employed by the company yet.
The following is a snapshot of advertising and marketing
communication by IDBI Federal within a month in the Southern region.
This information was provided by the company itself.
1.

Print Media

The main ways of advertising via print media are as follows:

i.

PAPER
Economic times
TOI
Hindu

NEWSPAPER

PAGE
3rd
3rd
1st
ii.

COST (IN Rs.)

320 per sq. cm
320 per sq. cm
400 per sq. cm

MAGAZINES

There is no specific magazine in which advertisements are

given. They are given in reputed magazines according to their
sales like Outlook Money etc. The advertisement is given
every month at least once in any magazine.
iii.

PAMPHLETS

Pamphlets are distributed across India at least 5 times in a

month without any cost.

2.

Hoardings

As of now, the total number of hoardings which are put up in

Hyderabad is 17
COST (IN Rs.)
4,00,000
3.

TIME LEASE
3 months
Television

The advertisement is shown on cricket channels and the Star

network of channels. The company will soon start displaying their
advertisements on Satellite TV like SUN network, etc.
i.

CREATING THE TV COMMERCIAL

The complete cost of making a commercial which includes all

the equipments, actors, etc is approximately Rs. 20 lacs. The
company has tie-up with Ogilvy and Mather as its advertising
agency along with Equinox (TLG) as its media partner. The life
of usage of a single television commercial is 2 years.
ii.

RUNNING THE TVC

Following are the costs associated with running the TVC

REGION/CHANNEL
Tamil Nadu
Local channels
Cricket channels

COST (IN Rs.)

45,000
6,000-8,000
60,000 Onwards

DURATION/SLOT
10 seconds
10 seconds
10 seconds

The ads are mainly shown in between TV soaps and Cricket

matches to gain the attention of a higher volume audience
consumers.
4.

Local Events

Some great events are also conducted in and out the city to create
more awareness about the IDBI Federal and free gifts are given
wherein local marketing people interact with the prospects and try
to gauge their financial needs and respectively pitch the products.

The main promotions are done during FEB & MARCH to:
Highlight Tax benefits.
To combat competition as all the Insurance companies would
advertise during this time at a great frequency.
The overall costs associated with such events totals to Rs.
2,00,000 per annum such events are mainly conducted in
Apartments, Schools, etc.

5.

FACTORS CONSIDERED

The project was taken in mind taking in mind the factors that would facilitate
the study.
Since the study focuses on the information search behaviour of the semiurban and urban consumer segment, it was important to find out the
characteristics of their search behaviour. Therefore two main aspects were
examined.

5.1 MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION

The print media. The newspapers they read daily and
the language it was printed in.
This includes statistics on television viewership in terms
of the kind of television channels and programs they prefer
The use of internet and whether they had a connection
at home.
The radio and its use for gaining information in the two
target segments.

5.2 DEGREE OF PERCEPTIVENESS

Statistics regarding the most preferred language in the

print and audio-visual media.
The channels they most preferred watching and
listening to both on Television and Radio.
The time they spent online surfing the net.
The medium through which they came to know about
the insurance policy they currently own.

Information search is also determined by other external factors which are

demographic in nature. Therefore information about age, gender, annual
income and occupation were also derived to see whether it had an impact on
the information search behaviour of the two segments.

Another objective of this project was to see how the Integrated Marketing
Communication of IDBI Federal was affected because of the nature of
information search. Therefore statistics about awareness about IDBI Federal
were required. Those who were aware were also required to mention the
source of their information. This would help in gauging which mode of
marketing communication used by IDBI Federal had the most impact.

The survey was done in a semi urban area which is located on the outskirts
of Thiruvananthapuram in a place called Parassala which is part of
Thiruvananthapuram district. This locality has grown from a rural agricultural
community to a semi urban town with municipal facilities and institutes of
higher education

6.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology for the project involved both primary and secondary
research.
Since the objective of the project was to study consumer behaviour in two
segments namely urban and semi-urban a mode of research needed to be
adopted which would clearly show the differences between the two.
6.1 PRIMARY RESEARCH

6.1.1

SAMPLING

It was decided that the research would be conducted through an

appropriately selected sample. The sample had the following
attributes:

The sample size taken is 250 125 for the urban

segment and 125 for the semi-urban segment.
The sample only included adults above 18 years of age
It only included those individuals who were employed or
involved in some form of occupation and hence earned a
regular income
The collection for the urban sample was done from the
urbanized localities of Ranchi in Jharkhand and Hyderabad in
Andhra Pradesh.
The collection for the semi-urban sample was done from
a suburban locality in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala
called Parassala.

6.1.2

QUESTIONNAIRE

To collect data from the sample a questionnaire was designed. It

had the following attributes:

It was composed of 21 questions

14 questions were designed to gather data about
consumer behaviour.
7 questions were designed to gather demographic data
such as age.
It was designed to gather top of the mind data
It also gathered Aided recall responses and unaided
recall responses.

6.1.3

PILOT STUDY

After consultation from the faculty guide and the company guide
a pilot study was conducted.

It involved 20 participants.
Feedback was taken regarding the clarity of the
questions and the ease of answering the questions.
The feedback was positive.
Respondents of the pilot study were not included in the
sample
The questionnaire was then used to collect data from
the areas mentioned above.
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THEORITICAL BACKGROUND

Brand
A brand is defined as a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of these that
identifies the makers or seller of the product or services (Kotler 2002)
According to Kapferer (2004), a brand is a name that has the power to influence a buyer.
A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business.
A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products,
services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed.

Managing Multiple Brands

Different companies have opted for different brand strategies for multiple products. These
strategies (Kotler, 2003) are:
Single

brand identity (Also referred to as Individual product brand) -

a separate brand for each product. For example, in laundry detergents Procter & Gamble
offers uniquely positioned brands such as Tide, Cheer, Bold, etc.
Umbrella

brand- All products under the same brand. For example, Sony

offers many different product categories under its brand.

Multi-brand

categories - Different brands for different product

categories. Campbell Soup Company uses Campbell's for soups, Pepperidge Farm for
baked goods and V8 for juices.
Family

of names - Different brands having a common name stem. Nestle

uses Nescafe, Nesquik and Nestea for beverages.

Endorsed

brands,

and

sub

brands- For

example, Nestle Kit

Kat, Cadbury Dairy Milk, and Sony Play Station. These brands include a parent brand which may be a corporate brand, an umbrella brand, or a family brand- as an
endorsement to a sub-brand or an individual, product brand. The endorsement should add
credibility to the endorsed sub-brand in the eyes of consumers.
Brand equity is an important factor in multi-product branding strategies
Brand equity
Brand equity is a marketing term used to refer to the marketing impact of a given product in
association with a brand name. It tries to examine how a given product will perform in the
market if it did not have the Privilege of that brand name.

According to Kotler (1996), Brand Equity is defined as the added value endowed on the products
and services of a brand.

Aaker (1991) stated that brand equity can be referred to as a set of brand assets and liabilities
linked to a brand, its name and symbol that add to or subtract from the value provided by a
product or service to a firm and/or to that firms customers.
The Marketing Science Institute (1988) defines brand equity as, The set of associations and
behaviours on the part of the brands customers, channel members, and parent corporations that
permit the brand to earn greater volume or greater margins than it could without the brand name
and that gives the brand a strong, sustainable, and differentiated advantage over competitors.
Brand Equity is the intangible value of a particular company or product based on consumer
perception in the marketplace.
The three main issues that a service brand should concentrate on in order to build a strong brand
equity and acquiescence in the market place;

Quality product and service.

Performance of service delivery.

Establishing a symbolic and evocative image.

There are three perspectives from which to view brand equity:

Financial - One way to measure brand equity is to determine the price premium that
a brand commands over a generic product. For example, if consumers are willing to pay
$100 more for a branded television over the same unbranded television, this premium
provides important information about the value of the brand. However, expenses such as
promotional costs must be taken into account when using this method to measure brand
equity.
1)

Brand extensions - A successful brand can be used as a platform to launch related

products. The benefits of brand extensions are the leveraging of existing brand awareness
thus reducing advertising expenditures, and a lower risk from the perspective of the
consumer. Furthermore, appropriate brand extensions can enhance the core brand.
However, the value of brand extensions is more difficult to quantify than are direct
financial measures of brand equity.
2)

Consumer-based - A strong brand increases the consumer's attitude strength toward

the product associated with the brand. Attitude strength is built by experience with a
product. This importance of actual experience by the customer implies that trial samples
are more effective than advertising in the early stages of building a strong brand. The
consumer's awareness and associations lead to perceived quality, inferred attributes, and
eventually, brand loyalty.
3)

A brand is said to have positive customer-based brand equity when consumers react more
favorably to an element of the marketing mix for the brand than they do to the same
marketing mix element when it is attributed to a fictitiously named or unnamed version of
the product or service.
The key components of brand equity according to Aaker are
Brand loyalty
Brand image
Brand awareness
Perceived brand quality
Brand association
Purchase decision
Post purchase behavior
Brand loyalty
Aaker defined Brand loyalty as the attachment that a customer has to a brand. It can also be
seen as consumers preference to purchase a particular brand in a product class and this could be
as a result of the consumer awareness about that particular brand.
Aaker classified loyalty as follows:

Non- customer: these are people who buy the brands of competitors.

Price switcher: these are the once that are sensitive to price.

Passive loyal: these once are purchase brand/product as a result of habit

rather that reason.

Fence sitters: are those that are indifferent between several brands.

Committed: are those who are honestly loyal to the brand.

Brand image
Brand image is referred to as consumer perceptions about the brand or how they view it.
According to Keller (1993), brand image is also seen as a symbolic construct created within the
minds of people and consist of all the information and expectations associated with a product or
service.
Thus, brand image does not exist in the features, technology or the actual product itself, it is
sometimes brought out by advertisement, promotion or users. Brand image enables a consumer
to recognize a product, lower purchase risks, evaluate the quality and obtain certain experience
and satisfaction out of product differentiation.
Brand Awareness
Keller (2003) stated that Brand awareness can be referred to as the ability of a consumer to
distinguish a brand under various conditions.
Brand awareness is built and increased by familiarity with the brand as a result of repeated
exposure of the brand through various marketing strategies which eventually leads to consumers
experience with the brand.
Consumers experience of a particular brand could either be by hearing, seeing, or thinking about
it and this will help the brand to create a certain degree of perception in the minds of consumers.
There are three levels of brand awareness namely:

Brand recognition: It is the ability of consumers to identify a certain brand

amongst other i.e. aided recall. Aided recall is a situation whereby a person is
asked to identify a recognized brand name from a list of brands from the same
product class.

Brand recall: This is a situation whereby a consumer is expected to name a

brand in a product class. It is also referred to as unaided recall as they are not
given any clue from the product class.
Top of mind: This is referred to as the first brand that a consumer can recall
amongst a given class of product.

Brand awareness plays a major role and has the most powerful influence on consumers purchase
decision.
Perceived Brand Quality
Perceived quality can be defined as the customers perception of the overall quality or
superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to
alternatives(Valarie A.Zeithaml 1988). Perceived quality is, first a perception by customers.
Perceived quality is defined relative to an intended purpose and a set of alternatives. Perceived
quality is an intangible, overall feeling about a brand. However, it usually will be based on
underlying dimensions which included characteristics of the products to which the brand is
attached such as reliability and performance.
Perceived quality is a major determinant of brand strength. Quality helps to increase market
share, which results in lower unit costs through scale economies. So it provides a competitive
edge over the rivals in securing potential market area by inspiring the customers.
Brand Association
To create brand equity, it is important that the brand have some strong, favourable and unique
brand association. Creating strong, favourable and unique associations is a real challenge to
marketers, but essential in terms of building customer-based brand equity.
The favourable brand associations are created by convincing consumers that the brand possesses
relevant attributes and benefits that satisfy their needs and wants such that they from positive
overall brand judgments. Basically brand associations can be classified into three major
categories viz, attributes, benefits and attitudes. Attributes are those descriptive features that
characterize a product or service.
Attributes are further sub divided into product related and non-product related. Benefits are the
personal value consumers attach to the product or service attributes can be further distinguished
into three categories i.e. functional benefits, experimental benefits and symbolic benefits. Brand

attitudes are consumers overall evaluations of a brand, which is most important one because it is
directly associated with the consumers buying behaviour.
Other components that build and enhance brand equity are:Purchase Decision
The core of marketing is exchange. It is the actualization of a transaction between the seller and
the seeker of value. In this process the customer must make a choice or decisions with regard to
selection of a value provider. A decision involves a choice between two or more alternative
actions or behaviours. The customers essentially make two types of decision in the context of
marketing. The first type of decisions is directed at the choice of product or service. These
decisions are called assortment decisions. The second type decisions concern the choice of
specific brands and how to obtain them. These are called market related decisions.
After searching and evaluating the alternatives, the consumer must decide whether to buy or not.
Thus, the first outcome is the decision to purchase or not to purchase. If the decision is to buy,
various decisions are to be taken regarding where and when to make the actual transaction, how
to take delivery or possession, the method of payment, and other issues.
The buying decision also highly influenced with cultural, social, personal and psychological
factors. For consumers, brand equity is the value addition in the product of the brand. Brand
equity results in increase in sales through consumers acceptance.
Post Purchase Behaviour
After purchasing the product, the consumer will experience some level of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction. The consumer will also engage in post purchase action and product uses of
interest to the marketer. The consumers satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product will
influence subsequent behaviour, if the consumer is satisfied, then he/she will exhibit a higher
probability of purchasing the product on the next occasion.
The satisfied consumer will also tend to say good thighs about the product and the company to
others. The post purchase behaviour is depending upon the extent of consumers set of
experience stored in memory, how well they select products and stores and the type of feedback
they received.

The post purchase evaluation involves comparison between the expectations and actual
performance of the product or brand. There are three possibilities at this stage. First, there is no
discrepancy between expectations and actual performance. It leaves the consumer with neutral
feelings. Second, performance exceeds expectations, in this situation consumer feels satisfied.
Third, performance falls below expectations, this leaves the consumer dissatisfied.
Post purchase behaviour indicates to what extent these purpose have been met and motives
achieved. Post purchase activity gives an indication as to whether the customers are going to
again patronize a firm in future, and also whether they will be in a mood to recommend a product
to potential customers.
BRAND EQUITY MODELS

The different brand equity models are:

Brand Asset Valuator

Aaker Model
BRANDZ
Brand Resonance

BRAND ASSET VALUATOR

Differentiation

Relevance

Esteem

Knowledge

Source: Young and Rubicam.

Differentiation Differentiation is the ability for a

brand to stand apart from its competitors. A brand should be asunique as
possible. Brand health is built and maintained by offering a set of differentiating
promises to consumers.

Relevance Relevance is the actual and perceived importance

of the brand to a large consumer market segment. This gauges
the personal appropriateness of a brand to consumers and is strongly tied to
household penetration (the percentage of households that purchase the
brand).

Esteem - Esteem is the perceived quality and consumer

perceptions about the growing or declining popularity of a brand. Does the
brand keep its promises? The consumer's response to a marketer's brandbuilding activity is driven by his perception of two factors: quality and popularity,
both of which vary by country and culture.

Knowledge Knowledge is the extent of the consumers

awareness of the brand and understanding of its identity. Theawareness levels
about the brand and what it stands for shows the intimacy that consumers share
with the brand. True knowledge of the brand comes through brand-building.

AAKER Model

The following are the components of Aaker model namely:

Brand loyalty
Brand awareness
Perceived quality
Brand associations
Others: patents,, channels,, etc
The Brand Equity model that is currently being used at IDBI Federal is Aaker model.

BRAND RESONANCE MODEL:

Source: Kellers Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid

BRANDZ MODEL:

Source: Millward Brown and WPP. (Brand Dynamics Pyramid)

Bonding Rational and emotional attachments to the brand to the exclusion

of most other brands

Advantage Felt to have an emotional or rational advantage over other

brands in the category

Performance Felt to deliver acceptable product performance and is on the

consumer's short-list

Relevance Relevant to consumer's needs, in the right price range or in

consideration set

Presence Active familiarity based on past trial, saliency or knowledge of

brand promise
Purchasing loyalty increases at higher levels of the Pyramid - consumers at the level of bonding
are likely to be active advocates of the brand. There is also an increase in share of wallet - the
proportion of consumer expenditure within the category on that brand - as you ascend the
Pyramid. The goal is to build as large a group as possible of truly loyal consumers, by sustaining
a suitable relationship and increasing their loyalty to the brand.

OBJECTIVES:
Primary Objectives:
1.
To understand the factors influencing the Brand Equity of IDBI
Federal.
2.

Analyzing current brand building strategies of insurance sector.

3.
Suggestions to enhance brand equity through various marketing
strategies.
Secondary Objectives:
1.

To improve the customer service quality.

2.

Analyzing current brand building strategies of IDBI Federal.

METHODOLOGY:
RESEARCH DESIGN:
In this project, descriptive research is used i.e. explaining the distinctiveness of the observed
facts.
SAMPLE DESIGN:
The sample size is 150 and sampling unit is Customers of IDBI Federal and the sampling type is
non random convenience sampling. The research is carried out in Bangalore, Karnataka. Open
ended and closed ended questions are used in the design of questionnaire. The type of

questionnaire used in this project is structured questionnaire where the questions are listed in a
pre arranged order and respondants are informed about the purpose of collecting information.
DATA SOURCES
There are two methods of data collection that can be considered when collecting data for
research purpose. These data collection types include the following:

Primary data
Secondary data

Both primary and secondary data will be used for the purpose of study.

Primary Data
This can be referred to as first hand data because it is collected mainly for the set research
purpose.
Sources of primary data:
For the purpose of the project, primary data will be collected by communication via
questionnaires and interviews which we will administer personally.
Basic methods of communication with respondents that may be used in the project are:
Personal interviews.
Telephone interviews.
Self administered questionnaires which can either be in
the form of printed questionnaires or electronic questionnaires via
email.
Secondary Data

Secondary data can be referred to as information collected by others for certain purposes that can
be different from that of a researcher who intends to use the same information. Also referred to
as second hand data.
Sources of secondary data:
The internal sources are datas being collected from employ