Why is this work relevant for PR?

The underpenetrated Sri Lankan life insurance market (agent dependent), positive image of a company is imperative. This campaign was able to deliver the brand proposition in a more relevant, believable and engaging manner through actual stories of highly regarded, real individuals at zero on cost for the brand. We partnered with a media channel with highest reach/affinity of the target audience who were known and respected for creating quality, authentic content to co-create a TV documentary series to drive conversion of targeted professionals. Affiliation of respected (unpaid) individuals was able to elevate the brand equity significantly (impossible via mere commercials).

Background

Top 4 players already had many years’ worth of client bases that were continuing to pump revenue via continuous insurance premiums apart from the new policies. Softlogic Life (#5), launched in 2016 was facing a challenge to grow. They had to bring in higher value policies and more new business vs. competition for that. Softlogic Life is a premium life insurance provider and average premium value per customer is more than double as opposed to the competitors. The target audience comprises of individuals working in the private and public sector ranging from businessmen to white-collar workers who are so much harder to convince through traditional means of marketing. But, majority of the current clientele were businessmen and the brand awareness among other professionals was low. Given that the client’s business strategy was driving referrals based on recommendations, the key objective was to create positive awareness amongst targeted professional groups

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Buying a life insurance is the last thing on a happy-go-lucky Sri Lankan’s mind. The penetration remains 0.56% despite 8 decades of operation by the top four players who account for 69% of the total market share, where, a history of claim frauds, unprofessional sales tactics and negative, fear mongering communications are huge contributors towards low penetration. Softlogic Life took a completely opposite communication route in comparison to the category by promoting positivity and elements of a healthy life style. A campaign that showed how all “sicks/fevers” doesn’t have to be bad since they can be good for you (ex: love –sick/Book-sick/Bike-fever) was launched requesting everyone to follow their good sicknesses/passions and promising that Softlogic Life; “The Best Health Insurance in Sri Lanka” will be there to take care of you if “Bad Sicknesses” gets to them, front-ending the more relevant health insurance a vs. death, which least relevant.

Describe the strategy (30% of vote)

The type of professional we were targeting were hardly the type who would watch a commercial and get convinced about a brand to welcome an unknown agent and consider the purchasing a life insurance. They are skeptical about advertising (doesn’t get influenced by celebrities/popular influencers) and look for authenticity, recommendations when purchasing. They’re prideful beings who tend to share achievements on social media. We created 12 episode, documentary series with a media network showcasing success stories of highly regarded, Sri Lankan professionals who have reached the pinnacle by following their passions. The content was authentic and engaging which was shared amongst friends, followers, peers which the brand wouldn’t have been able to reach under normal circumstances. Since the media network not only had strong TV presence but also had high digital reach, we were able to leverage both channels that had high affinity to our TG to create positive awareness.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The rise of the unpaid Influenspirer (Influencer+Inspirer) It’s not like people will go around recommending life insurance policies to their colleagues and friends. But what if people we respect in our social circles start recommending a brand? The nature of the influencer being featured was chosen based on which professionals the Softlogic Life wanted to attract. These episodes were cross posted in Digital in the brand’s, Media network’s as well as the “Influenspirors” personal pages, mulpying the scale of influence. These programmes were aired 6 months after the launch of the brand thematic campaign so that sufficient time has been allowed f or the big idea to sink in. The media channel had 58.5% reach and the highest affinity with the target audience.They also had expertise in creating news documentaries, that was just right to produce the kind of authentic, compelling content we needed.

List the results (30% of vote) – must include at least two of the following tiers:

Results 1. Growth of new business through targeted professionals • Doctors- 69% (vs.14% -2017) • White Collar- 51% (vs. 30% -2017) • Academics- 45% (vs. 40% - 2017) • Chefs- 99% (vs. 0%- 2017) 2. Market Share Growth- 2% percentage points (vs. 1% target)- highest growth for Softlogic life in a given year. The market leader was the only other to show positive share growth (0.2%). 3. Softlogic Life was able to add 133,688 new policies in 2018 (vs. 47,103 in 2017). Without Softlogic Life, the industry showed only negative 65,058 for new policy growth clearly showing that this brand was driving the industry 4. Average policy value grew from LKR 113,370 (2017) to 128,800- 16.4% 5. Overall company growth (revenue)- 33% against the industry growth of 16%. It’s 3 times higher than the closest competitor. 6. The brand spontaneous awareness improved by 500bps amongst intenders 7. Organic Reach- 58.5% amongst 1.3 million target audience base With a total follower base of 4.4 Mn fans the programme’s reach was further amplified TV Derana, Ada Derana (Including the Sinhala platform), Derana 24x7, Ada Derana Live, Pulse.lk, etc 8. Influencer lead organic reach in addition- 166,256 (12.8% of the target audience) 9. Media efficiency- highest in the industry at 1.29 (Share of voice/share of spends) the next closest competitor was 1.15 10. The program belt rating for the media channel increased by 468% post the campaign