Annaprasan
Issue 20 | September 2011
Agency
M&C Saatchi Direct and Digital, Mumbai
Creative Team
Creative Head: Ganapathy Ramachandran; Art Director: Raghava Rao; Creative Director: Deepak Agarwal
Production Team
Studio and Production: Prashant Raje
Date
October 2010
Background
Even today, Indian parents are conservative when it comes to their children's career choices. The challenge was to break this mindset so young couples could be open to alternative professions for their children.
Biria Sun Life wanted Super High Net-worth Individuals to call them or visit the website so that they could help them plan ahead for their children’s careers using the Children's Future Solutions tool.
Idea
Annaprasan is an Indian ritual in which young children are presented with a tray upon which rest a number of objects, each representing a different vocation.
Biria Sun Life mailed their target audience just such am Annaprasan tray but with objects representing more modern career options.
The idea was to open up parents’ minds to the amazing breadth of careers now possible. They were directed to www.notjobsbutpassion.com where they could take simple aptitude tests for their kids and discover more about the finances required for these new-age careers.
Results
Mail packs were sent out to 2,000 Super High Net-worth Individual prospects and 178 (8.9% response) of them bought a Child Plan for an Annual Premium of Rs. 70,000 each. This generated revenues of Rs.12.46 million, which was more than five times the expected response. It also helped drive traffic to the website. All this, with a mail pack costing Rs.1 Million.
Our Thoughts
The Cannes TV and print juries this year were urged to take into account local cultures and vote accordingly. I’m not sure the Direct jury were given the same steer or this might possibly have won a Bronze at least.
It is an intriguingly different approach to selling financial services to parents The usual clichés are images of kids in mortar boards and gowns and all set for a life in accountancy.
The physicality of the pieces mailed – objects representing a future as musician, painter, hairdresser and tennis star – are what would have made this piece work. As a flat mailing, a press ad or even a TV commercial there wouldn’t have been the same response.