How HDFC ERGO General Insurance has started a movement on insurance inclusion for all

HDFC ERGO General Insurance has recently rolled out its new campaign film, #KaroSabkoInsure, which is anchored around the concept of love and care. It nudges individuals to share their knowledge and create health insurance awareness among the unsung heroes and those from the vulnerable sections of the society such as cooks, house helps, drivers, security guards, gardeners, who contribute every day to make our lives easier, comfortable and convenient.

Launched on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, this campaign film features a male protagonist who introduces his ‘didi’ or the house-help at his home to a beneficial health insurance plan of HDFC ERGO. This heartwarming campaign film strikes a chord with everyone as it reminds them about the pivotal role played by domestic staff and how it becomes very important to make them feel protected and aware of health insurance. The main idea behind this campaign is to encourage ‘sabko’ or everyone from across every section of the country, to stay protected with health insurance.

According to data sources, majority of the population from the informal sector is unaware of the importance of health insurance. This initiative by HDFC ERGO has the objective of spreading awareness regarding health insurance and urges every Indian to benefit by taking up an insurance plan.

In conversation with Adgully, Somesh Surana, Head - Digital Business Group & Marketing, HDFC ERGO General Insurance, said, “We used our existing stakeholders, our customers, our agents, our employees, to promote this campaign film and this becomes more like a word of mouth communication where every person talks about it. That’s what has happened, and that’s what has given us a result of 2.5 million YouTube views within the first week itself.” Excerpts:

What is the core idea behind the campaign – #KaroSabkoInsure?

Being a ‘Customer First’ organisation and a leading general insurer in India, we understand that there is a need to identify and address the requirements of the ‘missing’ middle', a vast demographic of 400-500 million people who lack enough health insurance coverage. The #KaroSabkoInsure campaign is aimed at this demographic and it has the objective to reach the last mile, propelling financial inclusion in the country.

We strategically launched it during Raksha Bandhan, a festival that symbolises protection and care. The storyline effectively encourages employers and educated individuals to recognise their responsibility towards the well-being of their household help, emphasising on the importance of helping them stay secured with insurance. By focussing on the unsung heroes of our daily lives, such as house-helps, drivers, gardeners, security guards, and cooks, the #KaroSabkoInsure campaign recognises their invaluable contributions to our convenience and comfort. It underscores our steadfast commitment to encourage ‘sabko’ or everybody – from across every section of the country – to stay protected with health insurance.

What is the media mix for this campaign?

The #KaroSabkoInsure campaign is released across all the digital mediums like Facebook, YouTube, etc., and we are promoting it through in-cinema advertising and various distribution channels and advisors’ network of HDFC ERGO. It is a matter of pride for us that our campaign has garnered 2.5 million YouTube views within the first week of the launch and has been featured as one of the best Raksha Bandhan campaigns by various leading publications.

The campaign film is gaining huge popularity among our internal stakeholders and we are hopeful that our customers, employees and advisors, will act as our brand ambassadors and help us disseminate the core message to the masses. For us, #KaroSabkoInsure is not just a marketing campaign, but an inception of the movement to take insurance to the last mile – in line with IRDAI’s vision of ‘Insurance For All By 2047’.

Which creative agency has conceptualised this campaign and what was the brief that was given to them?

BBH India is the creative strategy and execution partner for this film. As a customer-centric organisation, we entrusted our agency with a clear directive: to embody HDFC ERGO’s unwavering commitment to initiatives that simplify and enhance our customers’ lives.

In this endeavour, we explicitly wanted a campaign that not only emphasised on our customer-focused approach, but also underscored our dedication in reaching the last mile in alignment with IRDAI’s vision of 'Insurance For All By 2047’.

Our intention was to create a meaningful emotional bond. Our goal was to transform how people view insurance, shifting it from a source of fear to one of understanding and empathy tools to stay secured against uncertainties.

We strategically aligned this effort with the festival of Raksha Bandhan to emphasise on the importance of protecting and supporting those who play integral roles in our daily lives. I think, BBH has aptly been able to create a campaign on the brief that we gave them and came up with a concept which is not restricted to one festival only. Like I said, it’s a movement which we have started on insurance inclusion for all.

Our campaign goes beyond the transactional aspects of insurance and taps into the deeper values of care and empathy. Most of us go through a situation. Probably people are staying away from their families and working, some of them are staying away and studying, right? And most of us, on festivals like Rakhi or any other festival, miss our family back home, they miss their sisters back. Usually, it happens that you get a Rakhi through post and your sister will always tell you that, why don’t you tie a Rakhi or ask somebody to tie it up? What do you do in a city like Mumbai and Delhi? That’s where most of the guys who will ask the maids or people who are cooking for them to kind of tie that up, and hence, every person that we spoke to could relate to this. So, I think the agency has been able to crack this emotion. We are happy with the kind of campaign results which we have achieved so far.

What was the overall budget for this campaign?

While we did allocate a marketing budget for the campaign launch, I would like to reiterate that this is more than just a typical marketing campaign; it’s a movement. I mean, in this kind of campaign, you should not look at the budget. The idea is to kind of be more contextual. So, when I say contextual, it needs to be looked at where we reached, like theaters, where people spend their weekends. We used digital medium very beautifully in terms of how we could reach out to the right set of people. We used our existing stakeholders, our customers, our agents, and our employees, to promote this film and in this way, they became more like a word-of-mouth communication, where every person talked about it. That’s what happened, and that’s what gave us a result of 2.5 million YouTube views in the first week of launch. So, I think in this kind of larger-than-life campaign, we have been able to do justice to it.

How do you anticipate that this campaign will create awareness among the lower-income groups?

We anticipate that this campaign, featuring two key characters – one representing an employer with a better economic standing & knowledge and the other an employee from a household, will play a pivotal role in raising insurance awareness among the lower-income group and help us reach the last mile.

In an era of rapid digitisation in India, where the government is actively promoting digital initiatives and ensuring financial inclusion, this campaign will not only raise awareness, but also inspire employers and educated individuals to take proactive steps in assisting their household help in embracing digitisation and ensuring their security.

We are confident that this campaign will strike a chord with the audience by touching on emotions, values, and a sense of shared responsibility, ultimately encouraging individuals to spread awareness about health insurance among those who often go unnoticed, but play a vital role in our lives.

As a ‘digital organisation with a human heart’, we have been driving various initiatives to increase insurance penetration in India. For instance, as appointed by IRDAI, we have taken on the role of lead insurer for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, conducting numerous activities to enhance insurance awareness in these regions. Since 2016, we have been organising insurance quiz for students and we are the only insurance company who is organising quiz for school students to instil insurance literacy from the young age. For the last 8 years, we have reached out to 6,500+ schools and 15 lakh+ students through this quiz. This year, the extent of insurance awareness has reached to a level where we are approaching more than 2,200 schools.

So, that’s another initiative taken by us to reach out to people, catch them young, make them aware about what insurance is, and in a very smart way, when they are participating in the quiz, generate some interest about insurance. September 27, 2023 marks our 21st Foundation Day and we are hosting the Grand Finale of 8th HDFC ERGO Insurance Awareness Awards Junior Quiz Insurance Quiz on the same day.