THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY AT PRESENT AND ITS IMPACT1.1ADVERTISINGThe advertising agency responsible for IDBI Federal Lifes Ad campaign is Ogilvy & Mather and the national creative director is Abhijit Avasthi. The most prominent part of their campaign was the television ad campaign which involves four short films including Alley for Wealthsurance. This new campaign was launched after IDBI Federal had to undergo a name change. The adverts had a hint of humour in them which ensured that the viewer never forgot. These advertisements were launched across a wide variety of channels including news, movie and vernacular. All these advertisements end with the line Jisne bhi suna, khareed liya (Whoever heard of it bought it). They are followed by the question Aap ne nahin suna? (Havent you heard?)For Incomesurance the film A Suitable Boy was used which stressed on guaranteed benefits and hence the line Guaranteed income ki exact bhavishyavani.While talking to a few subjects during my research I found out that when they were asked about the company straight away they could not be sure whether they had heard anything about it. A hint towards the story line of the above said ads brought them right on track and helped in gaining their interest.According to Amish Tripathi national head marketing and productmanagement, "Our strategy has always been to focus on our products. We believe our products are our differentiator and they add tremendous value to the consumer. This time, weve tried to communicate those benefits of our products in a humorous manner, where its a little more light-hearted. Otherwise, insurance films can be a little heavy."Below is an extract of an interactive session between Amish Tripathi and the 4Ps Magazine which will throw a clearer light on their innovative techniques.4Ps B&M: What is the thought behind your latest campaign?

AT: Our consistent strategy has been to push our product rather than our company. We have consistently focused on designing innovative products, which provide superior value to our customers. Therefore, it is to our advantage to keep the customer focused on our specific offerings rather than speak on emotional generalities. We were also clear that we wanted our ads to be different from the usual emotional or guilt-ridden insurance industry ads. So we have chosen to present our product advantages using humour as a route.The brochures taken out by the company are extremely detailed and at the same time very easy to understand. The principle of complete disclosure is followed so that the consumer is aware of all the clauses involved and even the risk if any. The benefit is explained with detail and useful suggestions are also given. This immediately makes the reader feel that the company is something credible and encourages them to ask further questions. This though is a costly affair and massive circulation cannot be afforded as printing these brochures is expensive.1.2SALES PROMOTIONSIDBI Federal provides discount on premiums of sum assured higher than Rs.4,00,000 for their Incomesurance Policy. They also have an option of Waiver of premium wherein in the event that the proposer dies the remaining premium is paid up by the company and the benefits are received by the life assured.1.3EVENTS AND EXPERIENCESIDBI Federal then IDBI Fortis was selected to sponsor the cricket match between India and South Africa consisting of five One Day Internationals. This was then called the IDBI Fortis Wealthsurance Cup. It was followed by the IDBI Fortis Wealthsurance Twenty20.They also sponsored the recent ZEE Cine Awards.The company recently held a spelling bee competition on childrens day on November 2010. It provided a natural opening for the company to hold discussions with parents in terms of the financial future and planning for their children.1.4PUBLIC RELATIONS AND PUBLICITYIDBI Federal has a quarterly company magazine called Interaction. It gives up to date information about the companys progress and activities. It gives information about new publicity efforts and expansion efforts in the form of new branches. The annual report is also published regularly and communicated.They recently joined hands with Samhita which is a community development organisation working towards bringing financial literacy to the underprivileged population of Madhya Pradesh.They also have a channel on you tube showcasing all their Television ads along with interviews and speeches by the heads of the company.1.5DIRECT AND INTERACTIVE MARKETINGIDBI Federal has a well functioning website idbifederal.com. It provides comprehensive information on the range of products and has options for customers where they can track their Net Asset Value. It also provides downloadable online brochures and calculators which can be customised to calculate benefits according to different premium capacities.The most interesting component of the site is a humorous viral involving two animated characters created by IDBI Federal namely Happy and Lucky. Their aim is to educate the public on concepts such as Human Life Value.1.6WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETINGThe communication strategies adopted along with the multiplicity of the mediums ensure discussions and oral communication. IDBI Federal leverages on its brand value too which makes it an even more prominent and noticeable option.1.7PERSONAL SELLINGIDBI Federal is an insurance company therefore direct communication through agents is the most important means of communication for them. The company distributes its services through the following channels Agency (retail branches), Alliances (third party network), Banca (representatives working from banks), and DST (Direct Selling). Each of its employees has to make four new contacts per working day and a part of their salary is variable. They have numerous promotional schemes for those who want to become agents of the companys policies. This ensures constant and competitive endeavours by the workforce to inform consumers as well as they can. Therefore IDBI Federal has a strong network of Promoters and Advisors in the areas they have covered.As told by Amish TripathiWith a wide reach of the two banks across their 1,380 branches all over the country and expanding, bancassurance is our primary distribution channel. Having had such a strong launchpad, we have 35 of our own branches making agency channels contribute to over one third of our business. We intend to increase our branch network to 55 in the current fiscal year and our advisor strength to 15,000 to keep with the growth momentumFrom the above it can be seen that IDBI Federal has not focused much on print media in terms of newspapers. The radio also has not been very much explored. The company now has branches in 56 cities. Their network is ever growing and efforts are constantly being made.The fact still remains that many people are still un-reached due to lack of agents in their areas or due to the fact that the information mediums they prefer have not been employed by the company yet.The following is a snapshot of advertising and marketing communication by IDBI Federal within a month in the Southern region. This information was provided by the company itself.1.Print MediaThe main ways of advertising via print media are as follows:i.NEWSPAPERPAPERPAGECOST (IN Rs.)

Economic times3rd320 per sq. cm

TOI3rd320 per sq. cm

Hindu1st400 per sq. cm

ii.MAGAZINESThere is no specific magazine in which advertisements are given. They are given in reputed magazines according to their sales like Outlook Money etc. The advertisement is given every month at least once in any magazine.iii.PAMPHLETSPamphlets are distributed across India at least 5 times in a month without any cost.2.HoardingsAs of now, the total number of hoardings which are put up in Hyderabad is 17COST (IN Rs.)TIME LEASE

4,00,0003 months

3.TelevisionThe advertisement is shown on cricket channels and the Star network of channels. The company will soon start displaying their advertisements on Satellite TV like SUN network, etc.i.CREATING THE TV COMMERCIALThe complete cost of making a commercial which includes all the equipments, actors, etc is approximately Rs. 20 lacs. The company has tie-up with Ogilvy and Mather as its advertising agency along with Equinox (TLG) as its media partner. The life of usage of a single television commercial is 2 years.ii.RUNNING THE TVCFollowing are the costs associated with running the TVCREGION/CHANNELCOST (IN Rs.)DURATION/SLOT

Tamil Nadu45,00010 seconds

Local channels6,000-8,00010 seconds

Cricket channels60,000 Onwards10 seconds

The ads are mainly shown in between TV soaps and Cricket matches to gain the attention of a higher volume audience consumers.4.Local EventsSome great events are also conducted in and out the city to create more awareness about the IDBI Federal and free gifts are given wherein local marketing people interact with the prospects and try to gauge their financial needs and respectively pitch the products.The main promotions are done during FEB & MARCH to:Highlight Tax benefits.To combat competition as all the Insurance companies would advertise during this time at a great frequency.The overall costs associated with such events totals to Rs. 2,00,000 per annum such events are mainly conducted in Apartments, Schools, etc.5.FACTORS CONSIDEREDThe project was taken in mind taking in mind the factors that would facilitate the study.Since the study focuses on the information search behaviour of the semi-urban and urban consumer segment, it was important to find out the characteristics of their search behaviour. Therefore two main aspects were examined.5.1MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATIONThe print media. The newspapers they read daily and the language it was printed in.This includes statistics on television viewership in terms of the kind of television channels and programs they preferThe use of internet and whether they had a connection at home.The radio and its use for gaining information in the two target segments.5.2DEGREE OF PERCEPTIVENESSStatistics regarding the most preferred language in the print and audio-visual media.The channels they most preferred watching and listening to both on Television and Radio.The time they spent online surfing the net.The medium through which they came to know about the insurance policy they currently own.Information search is also determined by other external factors which are demographic in nature. Therefore information about age, gender, annual income and occupation were also derived to see whether it had an impact on the information search behaviour of the two segments.Another objective of this project was to see how the Integrated Marketing Communication of IDBI Federal was affected because of the nature of information search. Therefore statistics about awareness about IDBI Federal were required. Those who were aware were also required to mention the source of their information. This would help in gauging which mode of marketing communication used by IDBI Federal had the most impact.The survey was done in a semi urban area which is located on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram in a place called Parassala which is part of Thiruvananthapuram district. This locality has grown from a rural agricultural community to a semi urban town with municipal facilities and institutes of higher education6.METHODOLOGYThe methodology for the project involved both primary and secondary research.Since the objective of the project was to study consumer behaviour in two segments namely urban and semi-urban a mode of research needed to be adopted which would clearly show the differences between the two.6.1PRIMARY RESEARCH6.1.1SAMPLINGIt was decided that the research would be conducted through an appropriately selected sample. The sample had the following attributes:The sample size taken is 250 125 for the urban segment and 125 for the semi-urban segment.The sample only included adults above 18 years of ageIt only included those individuals who were employed or involved in some form of occupation and hence earned a regular incomeThe collection for the urban sample was done from the urbanized localities of Ranchi in Jharkhand and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.The collection for the semi-urban sample was done from a suburban locality in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala called Parassala.6.1.2QUESTIONNAIRETo collect data from the sample a questionnaire was designed. It had the following attributes:It was composed of 21 questions14 questions were designed to gather data about consumer behaviour.7 questions were designed to gather demographic data such as age.It was designed to gather top of the mind dataIt also gathered Aided recall responses and unaided recall responses.6.1.3PILOT STUDYAfter consultation from the faculty guide and the company guide a pilot study was conducted.It involved 20 participants.Feedback was taken regarding the clarity of the questions and the ease of answering the questions.The feedback was positive.Respondents of the pilot study were not included in the sampleThe questionnaire was then used to collect data from the areas mentioned above.This message has been truncated.Show Full Message 35 Attachments View all Download all THEORITICAL BACKGROUNDBrandA brand is defined as a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of these that identifies the makers or seller of the product or services (Kotler 2002)According to Kapferer (2004), a brand is a name that has the power to influence a buyer.A brand is theidentityof a specificproduct,service, orbusiness.A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed.Managing Multiple BrandsDifferent companies have opted for different brand strategies for multiple products. These strategies (Kotler, 2003) are:Single brand identity (Also referred to as Individual product brand)- a separate brand for each product. For example, in laundry detergents Procter & Gamble offers uniquely positioned brands such as Tide, Cheer, Bold, etc.Umbrella brand- All products under the same brand. For example, Sony offers many different product categories under its brand.Multi-brand categories- Different brands for different product categories. Campbell Soup Company uses Campbell's for soups, Pepperidge Farm for baked goods and V8 for juices.Family of names- Different brands having a common name stem. Nestle uses Nescafe, Nesquik and Nestea for beverages.Endorsed brands, and sub brands-For example,NestleKit Kat,Cadbury Dairy Milk,and SonyPlay Station. These brands include a parent brand - which may be acorporate brand, anumbrella brand,or afamily brand- as an endorsement to a sub-brand or an individual, product brand. The endorsement should add credibility to the endorsed sub-brand in the eyes of consumers.Brand equity is an important factor in multi-product branding strategiesBrand equityBrand equity is a marketing term used to refer to the marketing impact of a given product in association with a brand name. It tries to examine how a given product will perform in the market if it did not have the Privilege of that brand name.According to Kotler (1996), Brand Equity is defined as the added value endowed on the products and services of a brand.Aaker (1991) stated that brand equity can be referred to as a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firms customers.The Marketing Science Institute (1988) defines brand equity as, The set of associations and behaviours on the part of the brands customers, channel members, and parent corporations that permit the brand to earn greater volume or greater margins than it could without the brand name and that gives the brand a strong, sustainable, and differentiated advantage over competitors.Brand Equityis the intangible value of a particular company or product based on consumer perception in the marketplace.The three main issues that a service brand should concentrate on in order to build a strong brand equity and acquiescence in the market place; Quality product and service. Performance of service delivery. Establishing a symbolic and evocative image.There are three perspectives from which to view brand equity:1)Financial- One way to measure brand equity is to determine the price premium that a brand commands over a generic product. For example, if consumers are willing to pay $100 more for a branded television over the same unbranded television, this premium provides important information about the value of the brand. However, expenses such as promotional costs must be taken into account when using this method to measure brand equity.2)Brand extensions- A successful brand can be used as a platform to launch related products. The benefits of brand extensions are the leveraging of existing brand awareness thus reducing advertising expenditures, and a lower risk from the perspective of the consumer. Furthermore, appropriate brand extensions can enhance the core brand. However, the value of brand extensions is more difficult to quantify than are direct financial measures of brand equity.3)Consumer-based- A strong brand increases the consumer's attitude strength toward the product associated with the brand. Attitude strength is built by experience with a product. This importance of actual experience by the customer implies that trial samples are more effective than advertising in the early stages of building a strong brand. The consumer's awareness and associations lead to perceived quality, inferred attributes, and eventually, brand loyalty.A brand is said to have positive customer-based brand equity when consumers react more favorably to an element of the marketing mix for the brand than they do to the same marketing mix element when it is attributed to a fictitiously named or unnamed version of the product or service.The key components of brand equity according to Aaker areBrand loyaltyBrand imageBrand awarenessPerceived brand qualityBrand associationPurchase decisionPost purchase behaviorBrand loyaltyAaker defined Brand loyalty as the attachment that a customer has to a brand. It can also be seen as consumers preference to purchase a particular brand in a product class and this could be as a result of the consumer awareness about that particular brand.Aaker classified loyalty as follows: Non- customer: these are people who buy the brands of competitors. Price switcher: these are the once that are sensitive to price. Passive loyal: these once are purchase brand/product as a result of habit rather that reason. Fence sitters: are those that are indifferent between several brands. Committed:are those who are honestly loyal to the brand.Brand imageBrand image is referred to as consumer perceptions about the brand or how they view it.According to Keller (1993), brand image is also seen as a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and consist of all the information and expectations associated with a product or service.Thus, brand image does not exist in the features, technology or the actual product itself, it is sometimes brought out by advertisement, promotion or users. Brand image enables a consumer to recognize a product, lower purchase risks, evaluate the quality and obtain certain experience and satisfaction out of product differentiation.Brand AwarenessKeller (2003) stated that Brand awareness can be referred to as the ability of a consumer to distinguish a brand under various conditions.Brand awareness is built and increased by familiarity with the brand as a result of repeated exposure of the brand through various marketing strategies which eventually leads to consumers experience with the brand.Consumers experience of a particular brand could either be by hearing, seeing, or thinking about it and this will help the brand to create a certain degree of perception in the minds of consumers.There are three levels of brand awareness namely: Brand recognition: It is the ability of consumers to identify a certain brand amongst other i.e. aided recall. Aided recall is a situation whereby a person is asked to identify a recognized brand name from a list of brands from the same product class. Brand recall: This is a situation whereby a consumer is expected to name a brand in a product class. It is also referred to as unaided recall as they are not given any clue from the product class. Top of mind: This is referred to as the first brand that a consumer can recall amongst a given class of product.Brand awareness plays a major role and has the most powerful influence on consumers purchase decision.Perceived Brand QualityPerceived quality can be defined as the customers perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives(Valarie A.Zeithaml 1988). Perceived quality is, first a perception by customers. Perceived quality is defined relative to an intended purpose and a set of alternatives. Perceived quality is an intangible, overall feeling about a brand. However, it usually will be based on underlying dimensions which included characteristics of the products to which the brand is attached such as reliability and performance.Perceived quality is a major determinant of brand strength. Quality helps to increase market share, which results in lower unit costs through scale economies. So it provides a competitive edge over the rivals in securing potential market area by inspiring the customers.Brand AssociationTo create brand equity, it is important that the brand have some strong, favourable and unique brand association. Creating strong, favourable and unique associations is a real challenge to marketers, but essential in terms of building customer-based brand equity.The favourable brand associations are created by convincing consumers that the brand possesses relevant attributes and benefits that satisfy their needs and wants such that they from positive overall brand judgments. Basically brand associations can be classified into three major categories viz, attributes, benefits and attitudes. Attributes are those descriptive features that characterize a product or service.Attributes are further sub divided into product related and non-product related. Benefits are the personal value consumers attach to the product or service attributes can be further distinguished into three categories i.e. functional benefits, experimental benefits and symbolic benefits. Brand attitudes are consumers overall evaluations of a brand, which is most important one because it is directly associated with the consumers buying behaviour.Other components that build and enhance brand equity are:-Purchase DecisionThe core of marketing is exchange. It is the actualization of a transaction between the seller and the seeker of value. In this process the customer must make a choice or decisions with regard to selection of a value provider. A decision involves a choice between two or more alternative actions or behaviours. The customers essentially make two types of decision in the context of marketing. The first type of decisions is directed at the choice of product or service. These decisions are called assortment decisions. The second type decisions concern the choice of specific brands and how to obtain them. These are called market related decisions.After searching and evaluating the alternatives, the consumer must decide whether to buy or not. Thus, the first outcome is the decision to purchase or not to purchase. If the decision is to buy, various decisions are to be taken regarding where and when to make the actual transaction, how to take delivery or possession, the method of payment, and other issues.The buying decision also highly influenced with cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. For consumers, brand equity is the value addition in the product of the brand. Brand equity results in increase in sales through consumers acceptance.Post Purchase BehaviourAfter purchasing the product, the consumer will experience some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The consumer will also engage in post purchase action and product uses of interest to the marketer. The consumers satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product will influence subsequent behaviour, if the consumer is satisfied, then he/she will exhibit a higher probability of purchasing the product on the next occasion.The satisfied consumer will also tend to say good thighs about the product and the company to others. The post purchase behaviour is depending upon the extent of consumers set of experience stored in memory, how well they select products and stores and the type of feedback they received.The post purchase evaluation involves comparison between the expectations and actual performance of the product or brand. There are three possibilities at this stage. First, there is no discrepancy between expectations and actual performance. It leaves the consumer with neutral feelings. Second, performance exceeds expectations, in this situation consumer feels satisfied. Third, performance falls below expectations, this leaves the consumer dissatisfied.Post purchase behaviour indicates to what extent these purpose have been met and motives achieved. Post purchase activity gives an indication as to whether the customers are going to again patronize a firm in future, and also whether they will be in a mood to recommend a product to potential customers.BRAND EQUITY MODELSThe different brand equity models are:Brand Asset ValuatorAaker ModelBRANDZBrand ResonanceBRAND ASSET VALUATORDifferentiationRelevance

EsteemKnowledge

Source:Young and Rubicam.Differentiation Differentiation is the ability for a brand to stand apart from its competitors. A brand should be asuniqueas possible. Brand health is built and maintained by offering a set of differentiating promises to consumers.Relevance Relevance is the actual and perceived importance of the brand to a large consumer market segment. This gauges thepersonalappropriateness of a brand to consumers and is strongly tied to household penetration (the percentage of households that purchase the brand).Esteem - Esteem is the perceived quality and consumer perceptions about the growing or declining popularity of a brand. Does the brandkeep its promises? The consumer's response to a marketer's brand-building activity is driven by his perception of two factors: quality and popularity, both of which vary by country and culture.Knowledge Knowledge is the extent of the consumers awareness of the brand and understanding of its identity. Theawarenesslevels about the brand and what it stands for shows the intimacy that consumers share with the brand. True knowledge of the brand comes through brand-building.AAKER ModelThe following are the components of Aaker model namely:Brand loyaltyBrand awarenessPerceived qualityBrand associationsOthers: patents,, channels,, etcThe Brand Equity model that is currently being used at IDBI Federal is Aaker model.BRAND RESONANCE MODEL:

Source:Kellers Customer-Based Brand Equity PyramidBRANDZ MODEL:

Source:Millward Brown and WPP. (Brand Dynamics Pyramid)Bonding Rational and emotional attachments to the brand to the exclusion of most other brands

Advantage Felt to have an emotional or rational advantage over other brands in the category

Performance Felt to deliver acceptable product performance and is on the consumer's short-list

Relevance Relevant to consumer's needs, in the right price range or in consideration set

Presence Active familiarity based on past trial, saliency or knowledge of brand promisePurchasing loyalty increases at higher levels of the Pyramid - consumers at the level of bonding are likely to be active advocates of the brand. There is also an increase in share of wallet - the proportion of consumer expenditure within the category on that brand - as you ascend the Pyramid. The goal is to build as large a group as possible of truly loyal consumers, by sustaining a suitable relationship and increasing their loyalty to the brand.OBJECTIVES:Primary Objectives:1.To understand the factors influencing the Brand Equity of IDBI Federal.2.Analyzing current brand building strategies of insurance sector.3.Suggestions to enhance brand equity through various marketing strategies.Secondary Objectives:1.To improve the customer service quality.2.Analyzing current brand building strategies of IDBI Federal.METHODOLOGY:RESEARCH DESIGN:In this project, descriptive research is used i.e. explaining the distinctiveness of the observed facts.SAMPLE DESIGN:The sample size is 150 and sampling unit is Customers of IDBI Federal and the sampling type is non random convenience sampling. The research is carried out in Bangalore, Karnataka. Open ended and closed ended questions are used in the design of questionnaire. The type of questionnaire used in this project is structured questionnaire where the questions are listed in a pre arranged order and respondants are informed about the purpose of collecting information.DATA SOURCESThere are two methods of data collection that can be considered when collecting data for research purpose. These data collection types include the following: Primary data Secondary dataBoth primary and secondary data will be used for the purpose of study.Primary DataThis can be referred to as first hand data because it is collected mainly for the set research purpose.Sources of primary data:For the purpose of the project, primary data will be collected by communication via questionnaires and interviews which we will administer personally.Basic methods of communication with respondents that may be used in the project are:Personal interviews.Telephone interviews.Self administered questionnaires which can either be in the form of printed questionnaires or electronic questionnaires via email.Secondary DataSecondary data can be referred to as information collected by others for certain purposes that can be different from that of a researcher who intends to use the same information. Also referred to as second hand data.Sources of secondary data:The internal sources are datas being collected from employ