PolicyBazaar to increase advertising on TV and digital

As several other large brands have cut their advertising monies during the pandemic, PolicyBazaar has been strategically increasing its footprint by advertising more on digital and TV, including the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

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The brand has increased its advertising on TV by 30% and digital by almost 15% this year and will continue to spend more next year as it sees a lot of potential in the growth of insurance in India.

Sharat Dhall, Chief Operating Officer of PolicyBazaar, told BestMediaInfo.com, “Our overall advertising spends have increased by 30% in the first six months of this calendar year (from last year). Our spends in digital increased by 15% and TV advertising has grown more than 30% than last year. We are one of the large advertisers on TV.”

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Dhall said the brand would be increasing its spends next year as well as it believes that insurance is highly under-penetrated in India. There is a significant role that advertising can play in terms of educating people about the need for insurance.

The brand currently allocates its spends on both digital and TV basis the 60:40 ratio. In terms of the genre on TV, the brand tends to go with news and films. “As far as reach is concerned, we do either live sports or GECs,” he said.

Interestingly, the brand doesn’t spend on print and outdoor advertising.

“We do not use print, and the reason for that is we believe that print is great when a brand wants to announce something or have a short term goal or tactical kind of promotion event. For our advertising, we are looking to change the behaviour and get people to think about why they need insurance, which is not an impulse buying category. It is difficult to build such a persuasive argument through print or outdoor,” he explained.

IPL delivering better ROI than last year

Making the most of live sports, the brand had last month unveiled its new campaign on IPL 2020 featuring its brand ambassador, Akshay Kumar.

Discussing why the brand was very confident of its association with IPL, he said, “We were seeing the demand in the market was strong, we were confident that IPL can provide us with the platform which would help us expand our reach even further, a reach which otherwise takes time to get to. We were also confident that IPL would be a success. If we look at the ratings that IPL has delivered over the first two weeks, it is better than last year.”

PolicyBazaar #ApkiSideHai film:

He added, “We also have seen better conversion on our sites. IPL and TV help to build credibility around the brand, and that has helped us to convert into actual buyers.”

Despite Covid 19, the brand is witnessing a good growth this year, especially in the first six months of this calendar year, which is otherwise considered an off-peak season for it.

The contribution from tier 2 and 3 cities is increasing over the years, and that continues to happen even now, according to Dhall.

“The penetration of online insurance is growing in these smaller towns only, and that number continues to grow,” he added.

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