Hope you are not leaving your dreams for your future to "luck by chance' says Birla Sun Life Insurance new TVC

Today's young Indians are an optimistic and confident lot who believe that they can write their own destiny. They have big dreams for themselves and their loved ones. And thanks to the hard work that they put in, they are confident of making these dreams come true, one by one; in fact they not only want to achieve them much earlier than their previous generations did, but also aspire to retire before their legal retirement age.

Thanks to the benefits of economic liberalization that have permeated beyond the metros to even the smaller towns of India, this confidence has made the common man believe that he is the master of his fate.

But luck may have different things in store for them. Their dreams could always remain as dreams, if something else is written in their fate. Something unexpected. Something unpredictable.

And one doesn't have to really jog one's memory too much, as the stories of unpredicitabilites of today's life, feature quite often in the papers; be it a senior executive who died in a freak accident or another case of a top advertising executive who passed away, while playing squash.

The more important point however is that while these ambitious Indians have a blueprint for their life and life goals to achieve, very often they are not prepared for the vagaries of fate.

In spite of the fact that they are aware of the many unexpected things that have happened to people around them, sheer inertia or belief that it only happens to others, stops them from taking any proactive action. A single decision to take a Protection policy can ensure that their dreams come true, despite any act of fate.

The average Indian's apathy and inertia is evident from the fact that the pure protection category merely contributes to 3% of the total industry premium. This brings to fore the reality that a large population base is leaving their dreams to fate or destiny.

That is what set the foundation for the new campaign from Birla Sun Life Insurance.

The task at hand being to create relevance and move people into action - a tough challenge for an industry that has been trying to do so for the last 55 years.

Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer ' Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group, says,

"As a brand, we consider it our mission to provoke mass India into realising the many roles which insurance can play in their lives. We have been successful in doing so, with our Wealth with Protection Solutions campaign with Yuvraj and Sehwag, followed by our Children's Future Solutions campaign. We now want to do the same with our Protections Solutions campaign."

The communication aims to create an emotional connect and empathy with the aam aadmi, by showing a slice of life situation which can happen with any young couple, staying in metros or small towns. They share each other's dreams and are thinking about their future, which they are eagerly looking forward to ' just when they come face to face with the unpredictability of life. The attempt here is not to challenge the consumer's confidence (and switch him off), but sensitize them in a thought provoking way.

Talking about the new communication campaign, Nandita Chalam, Vice President & Executive Creative Director, JWT says

"India is a young and optimistic nation where most people believe that they can create their own destiny. Therefore to sell Protection Solutions from Birla Sun Life Insurance, we at JWT had to find a way of making people aware of the fragility of life without frightening them. We managed to do this by adopting a tone that is provocative yet empathetic."

The TVC portrays a young working couple who is on their way home from work, on a normal working day. Suddenly they have a lucky escape from what could have been a fatal accident. This completely shakes them up. It is at this crucial point that Birla Sun Life Insurance puts forth a thought-provoking question to the viewer "Can you afford to leave your dreams to chance?" The film ends on a positive note with the couple realising that there is a lot that need to do, to live their dreams.

Through this TVC the company aims at urging viewers to not leave their dreams to chance but to protect them. And towards this key need Birla Sun Life Insurance offers a spectrum of Protection Solutions.

The TVC is scheduled to go live by November 04, 2011 and will be seen across all leading television channels. In the time to come you will witness an array of initiatives that will help BSLI reach out across the country with the theme of "safety, security and protection'. These will span television, radio, outdoor, below the line and digital media.

Campaign credits:

Creative Agency: JWT India

Production House: Chrome Pictures

Language: Hindi / other regional

National Campaign Launch: 4th Nov, 2011

JWT Team that worked on the film:

Servicing: Samarth Shrivastava, Swati Bobde, Vineeta Sukhija, Amita Servaia

Planning: Rajesh Mehta