The Ad Mad World

By Pawan Verma

Competition in the market place is fast changing the face of the Indian life insurance industry. Gone are the days when you could find an insurance agent with his hands in his own pocket. Being an industry insider, I am also aware of CEOs whose eyes earlier sparkled talking about plunging necklines and rising hemlines. Today, they have all developed hazy eyes and long faces, all the time brooding over plunging top lines and rising solvency margins.

During the earlier decades, competition was best reflected by the Cola companies and their cola wars. But, the new century belongs to the insurance companies and their Ad wars. And it is not the meek and the humble who will inherit the earth, but the ones who make the most noises, grabbing maximum mind share, but incidentally, at the same time, making life difficult for the industry regulator.

For a student of marketing, it will be quite interesting to research a topic like, “Insurance Ads ke Side Effects”. One may not be sure how much the sale of its insurance policies went up when a company stormed the print and electronic media with its Ads for Instant Insurance, but, we all know that the sale of instant coffee and instant food like burgers, went up drastically during the period. Likewise, the Viagra producers were the happiest lot, when a company advertised, “Always Up Never Down”, obviously referring to its investment returns.

However, this is just the trailer. As the industry moves on and competition gets tougher, the fight for customer mind share is going to be more intense and the voices more shrill. No longer are the Ads going to be simple and innocent, like, “Jeete Raho” or “Life mein hamesha rahen taiyar”. There is definitely going to be more spice and action, pricks and punches in the Ad speak of the companies.

Consider, for example, this sample of a future Ad war and judge for yourself :

Company A comes out with a tried and tested Ad line : “We cover your risk from Life to Death”
Company B would try outdoing it : “We take care of you from Cradle to Grave.”
Company C will further expand the scope of cover : “Risk covered : from Womb to Tomb”
Company D would apparently have the final word, “We cover your risk from Sperm to Worm”.
But if you thought that this could be the last word on the subject, you are mistaken. Company E would expand the scope further and announce, “Risk Insured – from Erection to Resurrection”.

So what, you would say, the General Insurance industry is already having an Erection All risk Policy and it is doing well in the market. But no, my dear, life insurance is different. I am afraid, the industry regulator would have a tough time, working overnight, watching the promise and the performance.

The Reincarnation Time

By Pawan Verma

The only time I believe in reincarnation is at 5.00 o' clock in the evenings, when all the dead people in my office come back to life. It is an everyday experience that when they come to work in the morning, the body enters the building, but the soul stays away. The body, thus lifeless during the day, joins the soul only in the evening, and hence the rejoicing at the reincarnation.

After the day-long separation, the eagerness of the body to meet the soul waiting outside, has to be seen to be believed. Although an avid watcher of the body and soul union scenes for the last 15 years, I could appreciate the intensity of the jubiliation only last month, when there was a practice fire drill in my office. On ringing the fire alarm bell, the 210 employees evacuated the two-storey building in three minutes and 15 seconds. But the same evening, when time was clocked, the building was cleared in exactly two minutes.

The service industry I am working in, is undergoing customer-orientation these days. Unlike in the past, the customer is always right now and he is the focal point of all business activities. Such an attitudinal changeover, however, is not an easy process, as I recently learnt in a State Government emporium, which is also writhing in the throes of a similar transformation. The agony in the voice of the angry sales girl said it all when she scolded a harassed lady customer, "Go easy, madam. The days when I used to insult customers are still fresh in my mind."

Having been rule-centric for ages, it is not possible for public sector companies to become customer-centric overnight. A friend of mine recalls an episode, when a customer had problems claiming his monthly pension which had been in arrears for two years. While his current year's payments were settled, those for the previous year were withheld since he had not submitted existence certificate for the previous year.

But it is not always the rules and the manuals which create the problem. Sometimes, it is the customer too. I witnessed an encounter that my friend had with an important NRI customer, who had come to discuss the prospect of raising a housing loan. My friend, the housing finance manager, enthusiastically explained the details. But, the NRI was not impressed. In his newly acquired anglicised accent, he asked, "So I have to mortgage the plot to you? What for? What for?"

"That will be security against the loan, Sir", said my friend.

"And you want me to mortgage my building and my insurance policy?

"Funny !" , he continued, "Just for a loan you'll mortgage my plot, building and insurance policy. Thank God, you didn't say you will mortgage my wife as well."

At this point, the reticient office Assistant could not restrain himself,

"Sir, for executing the mortgage, we will accept your assets only, not your liabilities."

(First Published in the Times of India, dated 20.07.1995)