Right from the concept to brand communication to creative execution, the ICICI Prudential Life Insurance ad is an A+ all the way through
Campaign name: Bande achhe hain (They are good men)
Brand: ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
Company: ICICI Prudential
Agency: Lowe Lintas
The Campaign
The ad shows various situations which display the caring nature of a family man, primarily as a husband and a father, who keeps fulfilling his responsibilities towards his family without really making a big deal about it. The tone of the TV commercial is that while men may be a little childish in their carelessness and forgetfulness, they’re a loving, responsible and caring set. The catchphrase in the background score is ?Par bande achhe hain? (But they are good men). The ad ends with the voice-over: ?Jo zimmedari nibhaate hain, jataate nahi. Unko suraksha dete hain hum. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. Zimmedaari ka humsafar? (Those who really perform their duties don’t make a song and dance about it. We give those men protection. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. The partner of responsibility?.
Our Take
?Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men.? This saying by Kin Hubbard, one of America?s greatest humourists and cartoonists, is more or less timeless, and true to the character of a man. That’s precisely why it’s such a popular quote. And ?men will be men? is a clich? that has resurfaced every now and then in popular culture, used ever so often by the other gender to convey almost everything from affection to scorn, and at times outright contempt, as the context demands. So if we were to agree that these two quotes are absolute and irrefutable, men are a lost cause. I’m sure most of the women reading this piece would wholeheartedly agree. But hang on. There’s some charm in the imperfections of a man, in his childish idiosyncrasies, in his forgetting his wallet at home and leaving a wet towel on the floor. And as long as all this comes with honesty, care and the goodness of heart, I’m told women are ready to ignore almost all of it. In fact, the ICICI Prudential ad seems to back this theory, and beautifully so.
Right from the concept to the brand communication to the creative execution, this ad is an A+ all the way through. The warm and affable personality of a family man is used with considerable merit to lend this campaign an emotional connect across the board. The family man is shown as caring, trustworthy, protective and responsible, so what if they’re always a little goofy in their heads? Now, these virtues are elements that are also associated with a product like life insurance. That’s your connect. The campaign very subtly places a family man at the centre of the communication, equates his personal responsibility towards his family and his caring nature with insurance and also drives home the message that life insurance is the right and responsible thing to do. As far as appeal is concerned, it appeals to men because it simply puts them in good light and they would perhaps take some pride in their childish ways as well. And make no mistake, it definitely appeals to women, perhaps more than it does to men. The fact that it’s a woman’s voice in the soundtrack adds an emotive credibility to the ad. The lyrics and the music itself work wonderfully well in this sweetly pleasant concoction. A great job by Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire in those respective departments. The ad as well as the song have a universal appeal which goes much beyond the product ? that is ? insurance. All in all, it’s a very good communication with its head and, more importantly, its heart in the right place. Like we started, let’s end this piece with a quote of a wise man. Oscar Wilde once said, ?Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our gigantic intellects.?