How Future Generali is arming its mktg arsenal with storytellers, customer evangelists

Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited, the joint venture between the 190-year old legacy global insurance business, the Generali Group with a 74% stake, and the Future Group, was established in the year 2006 with the aim of providing commercial, retail, rural and personal insurance solutions to corporates and individuals, for helping them manage and prevent risks. A landmark achievement in mere six years of operation was when FGII broke even in FY 13-14.

Today, Future Generali India Insurance has strongly established its credentials in the insurance sector, with more than Rs 5,700 crore of assets under management in the financial year 2022, claim settlement ratio of 93% and Gross Written Premium of Rs 4,210.35 crore. Future Generali has been certified as a  ‘Great Place to Work’ for the 4^th consecutive time (Nov 2022 – Nov 2023) among the top private general insurance players in India as per the acclaimed Great Place to Work Institute. It has also been awarded with numerous recognitions and awards such as The Economic Times Best Brands Awards 2022 and the Golden Peacock Awards, 2022 for Excellence in Corporate Governance.

In conversation with Adgully, Ruchika Malhan Varma, Chief Marketing Officer, Future Generali India Insurance, speaks at length about te company’s marketing initiatives in H1 of 2023, being a ‘Lifetime Partner’ for its customers and much more.

What are the marketing campaigns and marketing activities launched and undertaken by Future GeneraliIndia Insurance in the first half of 2023?

At Future Generali India Insurance, it has been one of our strategic priorities to strengthen our proposition of being a Lifetime partner through scalable marketing campaigns which adopt a customer-centric approach. 

In January this year, we had launched an outdoor campaign advocating equal rights for the LGBTQIA+ community. Staying true to our ‘Inclusion’ agenda and intent of being an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, we expanded the definition of ‘family’ across all our retail health insurance offerings, to include LGBTQIA+ community and live-in partners. As insurers, we believe that we have a moral and societal responsibility to provide a level playing field to all sections of the society devoid of their personal preferences, and we are the first and the only insurer to take this industry level initiative.

This was supported by a first-of-its-kind brand campaign, which broke the norm by boldly showcasing two real-life same-sex couples – Yogi & Kabeer and Adhila & Noora – on billboards in strategic locations with high footfalls such as cafes, malls, and restaurants in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Goa and Bengaluru. We also successfully paired OOH advertising with a digital campaign by leveraging platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, partnering with real life couples and influencers to co-create static messaging and trending reels using the hashtag, #RedefinedFamily.

We followed this up with the launch of another innovative health insurance product – D.I.Y Health – in June 2023, which is a modular health product that enables customers to design their personalised tailor-made policy in tune with their health insurance needs, making them the architects of their own protection. The launch of this product was on the basis of our deep customer insight which highlighted the growing need for customisation in insurance policies. To launch the product, we rolled out a campaign called #MakeYourChoice, which encouraged consumers to exercise the power of choice – whether that choice is in life or in insurance.

What is the company’s marketing strategy and brand vision?

The brand vision of FGII is to be a Lifetime Partner for our customers and to lead with the values of simplicity, innovation, ownership and human touch. To achieve this goal, the Marketing department is centered around the roles of storytellers, customer evangelists, innovation incubators, and catalysts for driving both strategic initiatives and cultural transformation. We continuously strive to deliver value to our customers by bringing in innovation that is relevant to the consumer’s needs. We ensure that we maintain a close connect with our customers – leverage analytics to anticipate customer needs, invest in listening to the ‘voice of customer’ and use insight mining – to develop propositions and communication that resonate with our customers.

For example, we were one of the first brands to advocate the cause of mental health, which has for long been pushed under the carpet, by introducing a product that covers OPD for mental health (a need gap in the market) and supporting it with sustained and disruptive communication campaigns that address the taboo and normalise mental health conversations. 

We have also been successful in resonating with the youth, a segment which has traditionally shied away from the category, by designing initiatives, appealing campaigns and ensuring that we are on platforms where they are. Today, we are an outlier in the industry, where a large proportion of our customer base for health insurance is from this large and profitable demographic. 

A strong understanding of our customers lifestyle has also led us to address unanticipated and unspoken needs, such as that of pet insurance. This has allowed the brand to successfully embrace a brand-new audience of pet parents, and to expand the market by enhancing customer intersections with the insurance category which never existed before. 

A pulse on the customers evolving needs has not helped us in customer acquisition, but also in customer retention. Through harnessing a balanced combination of cutting-edge technology, digital innovation and human touch, we have consistently managed to deliver best-in-class customer experience. This has led to elevated customer stickiness – our customer satisfaction and NPS scores are amongst the highest in the industry.

It is the combined effect of all these efforts that Future Generali General Insurance is considered to be one of the most innovative and empathetic brands in the industry today.

What does the product portfolio of Future Generali India Insurance comprise of?

We have the entire gamut of products with over 250 propositions across the general insurance industry including fire, marine, motor, health, home, personal accident, liability, crop insurance, travel, lifestyle, commercial, property, cattle livestock and aviation among others. 

Motor and health insurance form the biggest chunk of our total business so far but we have been witnessing growing demand from other emerging segments including home, lifestyle and travel among others. We do expect some of these emerging segments to grab a larger share of the overall pie moving forward.

What are the trends observed in the General Insurance sector in India right now? How has the consumer behaviour changed post pandemic towards the same?

Covid has been a game changer in more ways than one. The pandemic has brought about a major shift in consumer behaviour with individuals realising that health is an asset that needs financial protection. These are clearly long-lasting effects as we continue to witness an uptick in the sector three years later. 

Driven by a pick-up in health and motor insurance segments, the non-life insurance industry has grown by 16.4 per cent in FY23 compared to 11.1 per cent in the previous year, as per a CareEdge report. On the whole, India is among the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world and is poised to emerge as one of the top six insurance markets by 2032. Backed by the government and with regulatory support, health insurance will continue to spearhead this growth.

Three years post-Covid, the world has opened up, as have the markets. In fact, both business travel and leisure travel has increased manifold over the last year. There is pent up demand in the industry both for travel and lifestyle and that is definitely working in the favour of insurance companies, including us. Travel insurance is no longer an afterthought – travellers want to safeguard against flight cancellations and other unforeseen situations, resulting in a noticeable increase in insurance cover for domestic as well as international travel.

Customer-first strategies will significantly change how the industry conducts business and shapes the customer experience landscape. Some of the key trends the industry is witnessing in 2023 include the drive for cross-selling and upselling is likely to go hand in hand with the growing need for personalized insurance plans and premiums; customers are choosing customized insurance plans over currently available ‘off-the-shelf products’ in this digital economy; with rising inflation consumers are putting more emphasis on value for money when the premium increases; customers are expecting insurers to provide a better digital experience and InsureTechs are leveraging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Big Data Analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve the risk assessment and insurance processes.

Customers now prefer more effortless processes and digital channels and in line with this, insurers today are more focused now on expanding service channels and engagement options such as chatbots, Mobile Apps, WhatsApp, social media, etc. 

What are the DEI initiatives undertaken by Future Generali India Insurance this year?

We, at Future Generali believe in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and our efforts are aligned with this vision, be it at the workplace or in the policies we design. Our Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) strategy ensures this through unbiased recruitment policies as well as by conducting regular education, awareness and sensitization activities to promote inclusivity. Our people-first approach has resulted in getting FGII the ‘Great Place to Work’ award for the fourth consecutive year now. We are also amongst the Top 25 Best Workplaces in the BFSI sector in 2023. We have also been certified as an ‘Organisation with Inclusive Practices’ in 2023.

On the DEI front, we made the industry-first move to expand the definition of ‘family’ to include same-sex couples and partners in live-relationships, across all our retail health insurance offerings. Our family floater and individual plan policies now also cover those who do not necessarily follow traditional societal norms to define their family, such as live-in partners and couples in same-sex relationships.

This year, as a part of Pride Celebrations, we broke the trend and celebrated pride month in July. We believe that community efforts should extend beyond a single day or month. Our Pride Day celebrations included a march at our offices, awareness sessions, panel discussions, and interactive workshops led by experts, LGBTQIA+ icons and allies such as Sushant Digvikar, Parmesh Shahani, and Dr. Trinetra Halder.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we introduced a number of women centric policies including one-day period leave every month; providing flexible working arrangements for returning mothers; paternity leave for a month; mental health helpline; inclusion of Infertility treatment under Employee Group Medical Policy and providing mentorship programs and special activities for women employees among others. 

We also celebrated the DiversAbility Week in Nov 2022 by organizing a number of activities—during which employees participated in experiential activities designed to help them gain firsthand experience, such as decoding a special message in Braille, performing tasks with a blindfold, ordering their lunch in sign language.  We also organised performances by differently abled persons and interactions with specially abled motivational speakers.

What are the CSR initiatives undertaken by Future Generali India Insurance this year?

We, at Future Generali, truly believe that the power to bring about positive change is in our hands. Our CSR activities have impacted thousands of lives since the pandemic. The company drives inspiration for CSR from one of its core values ‘Live the Community’. Being a part of the Generali Group, the Company has imbibed a global perspective, which is reflected in the way it works and behaves. 

We are implementing projects on early childhood care and parentability in Ranchi, Khammam, and Jodhpur in conjunction with United Way Mumbai and Save the Children. The initiative focuses on adopting 37 Anganwadi centers, developing infrastructure, training Anganwadi workers, and conducting parent-child workshops and activities. The project serves around 3000 people and works with children aged 0 to 6, as well as their parents and caregivers. This apart, in collaboration with Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, we are implementing a project on supporting 500 visually impaired students by providing accessible computer labs to them in Bhopal and Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

We are also implementing a project that focuses on providing primary and secondary education support to 200 girls from Std. 1-5 and 200 girls from Std. 6-10 in Varanasi, UP in partnership with KC Mahindra Education Trust and a project that focuses on strengthening the existing health infrastructure of Public Healthcare Centres (PHCs) by renovating eight such Centres and providing medical equipment in all the centers in the Gangtok district of Sikkim in partnership with Bhavishya Bharat.

We are also executing a project that focuses on spreading awareness, conducting screenings in slum communities, schools/colleges using a mobile van, and conducting psychotherapy sessions for patients suffering from mental illness in Pune, Maharashtra in association with Poddar Foundation. The project will reach out to over 50,000 beneficiaries by the end of this financial year.  

 What are the new product innovations introduced by Future Generali India Insurance this year?

We are known for bringing innovative and unique propositions to the table — whether it is a product like FG Health Absolute, which addresses mental health issues, offers comprehensive wellness program covering loyalty plans and value-added services, or the FG Dog Health Cover, which meets the specific needs of pet owners. We take pride in our customer first approach and work on rolling out best-in-class innovative products and solutions to address the emerging needs of our customers.

This year, we have gone a step ahead and launched a modular yet comprehensive Health Insurance product, DIY Health that provides the customer with the flexibility of personalizing the product to meet their requirement and pay only for what they choose. 

How is Future Generali India Insurance leveraging AI and new technology?

We, at Future Generali, believe that technology and operational agility will be the drivers of competitive differentiation for any organisation. At our company, digitalisation is followed across the customer value chain, from policy delivery to claims to renewals. 

We have used AI in our films to create hyper personalization for distribution to promote our latest offering in health insurance, D.I.Y Health Insurance. We roped in celebrities like Masaba Gupta and Aparshakti Khurana to drive home the message of modularity, and using AI, enabled agents to personalize the ads by adding their name, address and contact details. This was a first ever in health insurance category, and has received a tremendous response from our distribution partners. 

We have also introduced the LEO chatbot, which is a conversational AI platform that is used for self-servicing by our customers. It is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, which allows it to learn and adapt over time. LEO chatbot has a number of features that makes it a valuable tool for businesses as it can understand natural language, even if it is not perfect, generate human-like text in response to user queries, access and process information from a variety of sources and adapt to changes in user behaviour.

Leo Chatbot is built using advanced automations, machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) & delivers customer engagement that is on par with live agents.

What kind of consumer research is undertaken before developing products, campaigns and innovations?

We have a huge focus on insight mining at Future Generali, where we undertake primary and secondary research to understand user behaviours and need gaps. An important aspect of the research is also to leverage the wisdom of the ecosystem through crowd sourcing of ideas. We also constantly do focus groups with intermediaries and customers are also used to get an all-round view before designing and developing products, campaigns and innovation.