Axis MF urges Parents to Do Homework on the occasion of Children's Day

Axis Mutual Fund, one of the leading asset management companies, has launched a unique initiative – #DoYourHomework, to create awareness amongst the parent fraternity about planning for one of the most important goals in their lives - children’s education & their future.

Children today are more aware about different careers, which at times go beyond the conventional choices. Children also have a strong point of view on what they want to do in life, unlike in the past when they were more likely to follow their parent’s footsteps, says Mr. Chandresh Kumar Nigam, MD & CEO, Axis Asset Management Company Ltd.
Children’s education and education-related expenses are considered the biggest apprehensions amongst parents, in fact even surpassing other aspects such as their own retirement planning, EMI towards loans, etc. Parents acknowledge that education related expenses are going to increase significantly, however they do not have an exact view on how much it is going to cost.

It is here that #DoYourHomework initiative, a rallying cry is a larger call-to-action for parents.
‘We believe that today parents have to not just do their homework in terms of finding out what their children want to do in future and provide the support, but also find out the overall expenses and plan towards the same, Mr Nigam said adding: ‘It is imperative for parents to bridge the gap between their children’s career aspirations and financial requirement to help achieve their children’s desired career goals.’ added Mr Nigam.

Axis Mutual Fund has released an interesting video which is essentially an insightful experiment which was initiated with a group of parents and their children. Children were asked to draw a picture of what they would like to become in future and parents were independently asked to paint what career path they would like their children to pursue.
The message we are driving home is that children today have innumerable career options and while the choice is theirs, parents need to be prepared. Hence #DoYourHomework initiative, says Mr Nigam.

The video has been watched more than 300,000 times on YouTube and more than 100,000 times on Facebook & Twitter, in a short span of 3 weeks.
Axis Mutual Fund has created a platform which lets parents find out the education costs (current & future) and also suggest the investment amount they need to start with.
On the eve of Children’s Day (Bal Diwas) on November 14, Axis MF has initiated various online and offline interactive programs to enable parents to discover the unknown hidden talent & aspirations of their children and plan for the same. Axis MF will host the activity from November 14Th – 29th, 2015 at 17 bookstores of Crossword across 7 cities & from November 12th – 22nd, 2015 at Kidzania, Mumbai.

Axis MF is thus urging parents to do their homework, while children would be celebrating children’s day and the festive season!
Axis MF has always believed in goal-based investment approach as it not only helps in setting the goals and understanding the investment horizon but also in deciding the mix of ideal asset class for investing. Given that children’s education & their future is an extremely important goal for parents, we consider it as our responsibility to create awareness about the fact that people need to ‘invest’ and not just ‘save’, said Mr. Nigam.
The Campaign Elements

• Do Your Homework experiment video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTaHzfWsrcA
An interesting experiment was initiated with a group of parents and their children. Children were asked to draw a picture of what they would like to become in future while parents were asked to paint what they would like their children to become in future. They were told not to interact with each other during the course of the activity.

A lot of interesting stories emerged from the experiment. At the end of the experiment, parents and children were asked to reveal their ideas. And to everyone’s surprise the pictures were contrasting. Children expressed their eagerness to pursue conventional as well as unconventional careers and their parents saw their children pursuing professions different than what their children articulated. The entire activity was captured on video which was released on YouTube with the message – Children today have innumerable career options. Whatever they choose to become, you (parents) need to be prepared. The video has been watched more than 300,000 times on YouTube and more than 100,000 times on Facebook & Twitter, in a short span of 3 weeks.

• #DoYourHomework on Social Media
Opening the digital avenue for the parents, Axis MF has planned an activity encouraging the parents to do this fun experiment with their kids at home. The parents can share their experience (images) through our social channels using #DoYourHomework. These experiences will then be crafted together in a video.

• The Homework App
The Homework app, about to be published, brings the #DoYourHomework campaign alive on mobile phones. Users will have the costs of education across a multitude of courses in various countries at their finger-tips. The app not only will tell them the future value of the course which their children would want to pursue, but also the estimated amounts to invest to reach that goal.

• #DoYourHomework on Digital Media
The media outreach for the #DoYourHomework campaign is an impressive one which reaches parents across the three major social networks Facebook, Twitter and Youtube in addition to precise targeting on Google Display Network across parenting websites.