Karva Chauth

Background

Religion has always played a significant role in shaping the culture of India. As Indians, we place our destiny wholly in the hands of God and therefore, the concept of insuring one's life is not given due importance. This is proven by the fact that less than 15% of our population is insured, the lowest penetration in the world. Of this, less than 3% have a pure insurance term plan. This indicates that insurance policies are mainly bought for tax saving purposes, and not for protection. The challenge was to break this mindset and get people to consider the need for protection, of their loved ones.

Idea

Strategy: They targeted existing customers who had taken up a tax saving insurance policy, but not a pure insurance product. Among these, they filtered out profiles of couples who had been married for less than 5 years. They would be a prime target for insurance - to secure their new life and prepare themselves for any setbacks.

Idea: Based on the insight that a husband feels guilty about his wife fasting on Karva Chauth, we decided to send married men a traditional Karva Chauth Thali a week before the festival on Nov 2nd, 2012. While the thali had the typical items: a tumbler, vermillion, turmeric, etc., it also contained an unexpected twist in the sieve. The twist was a hidden message to help the husband make up for his guilt, by mirroring his wife's devotion. He could do this by insuring his own life with a term life insurance policy, which would ensure his partner’s continued security against any unforeseen circumstances.

Results

Of the 1800 mailers sent, 196 customers responded (a response rate of 10.8%). Of these over 40% bought a term policy from us. However, the most touching fact was that some men do believe now, that they had a greater role to play in the observance of Karva Chauth.