Aviva India - News Feed

Aviva Life’s FY12 net up at Rs.74 cr

Administrator — Fri, 11 May 2012 05:39:00 GMT

Business Standard, Bangalore

Aviva Life Insurance on Thursday reported over two-fold growth in net profit at Rs.74 crore for the year ended March, 2012. The private sector insurer had posted a net profit of Rs.29 crore in 2010-11. Ranked amongst the top 10 private players, Aviva India's market share increased to 3.2 per cent in 2011-12 from 2.3 per cent in the previous financial year, as per Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority’s report of March, the private insurer said.

Doing the simple things well

Administrator — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:39:00 GMT

The Hindu Business Line

Aviva’s Gaurav Rajput believes that focusing on the basics simplicity pays off.

As Director - Marketing at Aviva India, Gaurav Rajput has to achieve the tricky balance of creating brand awareness for a financial product without being pushy. But then his foundation in advertising stands him in good stead he started out in agencies such as FCB Ulka and Rediffusion Y&R soon after his post-graduation from Welingkar Institute of Management. During his advertising days, he worked on prominent brands such as Tata Motors, Taj, Zodiac and Godrej. Then came the move to media. As the Marketing Head for NDTV, Rajput was responsible for the launch of the two news channels NDTV India and NDTV 24x7. Financial services has been another ball game altogether but a stint with Citibank for close to five years with experience in the domestic as well as international markets such as London and Singapore provided good grounding before the move to insurance.

Rajput joined Aviva in 2009 as the Head of Channel Marketing and was responsible for developing effective marketing campaigns for the key distribution channels Direct Sales Force and Bancassurance. He was also in charge of the customer communication initiatives before taking over as Marketing Director in 2010. Currently his role encompasses brand marketing, communications, research, channel marketing, analytics, cross-sell and product development.

My most memorable marketing initiative

Among several, one that’s closest to the heart is the ongoing ‘Aviva Great Wall of Education’. When it was being conceptualised we wanted an idea that would work at multiple levels, aligning a strong social agenda with Aviva’s Global CSR programme ‘Street to School’ with the company’s business strategy of focusing on the child space to bring alive our brand promise, ‘Education is Insurance’. When the agency (BBDO) came up with the thought of a book donation drive for underprivileged children, the team was immediately enthused by the idea’s simplicity, despite which it had a strong brand and business connect.

The challenge was to keep building on the idea to make it bigger, more meaningful and over the years the team has successfully managed to achieve a national scale through tie-ups with leading publications and technology companies resulting in over 2.5 million books being collected over the last three years. It worked because inherently people want to do something good for the society that they live in. This campaign gave them that opportunity in a simple way. This was evident from the brand awareness scores which saw a consistent growth from 79 per cent in 2009 to 89 per cent in 2011. As with most successful campaigns, it started with a simple idea that went on to create substantial brand and social impact. Moreover, due to the strong social connect, it made one feel really good about the work that was being done.

My first product launch

My first launch experience was when we were re-launching the Zodiac range of shirts and ties during my formative years in advertising. The starting point was the brand’s strong advertising legacy through the ‘Zodiac Man’ campaign, which had been running for many years. The client was very clear that it wanted the brand to move forward from that to be seen as more progressive and with the times, yet not lose its brand values. The agency’s challenge was to arrive at that inflection point where familiarity with the brand was not lost in the guise of progressiveness. It really helped to work on a launch at such an early stage of my career, it gave me a holistic sense of all the elements that went into a launch. What’s interesting is that the initial campaign’s thought and look that was developed at that time continues even today!

A setback I have learnt from

There are several ups and downs over any career and whether it’s a success or failure, there’s always some takeaway for the future. To give you an example, at Aviva we were very bullish on the online insurance space and worked hard to launch a best-in-class proposition as quickly as we could. However, days into the launch we realised that our sales process needed to be simpler, with lesser documentation to ensure a better customer experience. This initial setback rushed us back to the drawing board. The organisation showed great dexterity in coming out with breakthrough process improvements within days, resulting in Aviva i-life becoming one of the market-leading products in a short time. This taught me that it’s okay to make mistakes as long as you have the ability to recognise and course-correct immediately.

My marketing idol

Many peers and bosses that I have worked with could feature in this list. Having worked across advertising and the corporate world, you engage with so many bright, sharp people from whom you learn so much. I guess you pick up different things from different folks. I’ve enjoyed working with Vijay Ramchandran who was the Marketing Director at Citi India and imbibing his people management skills. The senior management at FCB Ulka where I started my career taught me the fundamentals of marketing and communication which I follow till date. Also, iconic marketers such as Steve Jobs, Phil Knight and new-age marketing gurus such as Seth Godin give you good insights on doing the simple things well.

Where I get my insights from

Insights are all around us, the society that we live in, the people we interact with. Friends, families, all give you insights. I enjoy interacting with people and travelling, they have always been the best sources of insights that I’ve got. Also, it’s becoming critical to interact with the younger generation, their approach and thinking is radically different and constantly changing. As digital becomes an important medium, insights from this segment are key to success.

How much has B-school helped me in my career

B-school really helped me structure my thought process. More than the principles and the academic part, I think it helps in developing a logic-based and solution-providing mindset. At the same time, it forces you to think beyond convention, and differently. I also believe that the peer discussions help prepare you for the corporate world, the whole environment is based on sharing best practices and case studies and that helps build a team orientation. Moreover, it helps build networks which are always useful throughout your career.

In what way is marketing for financial products different from other industries?

The level of knowledge and awareness of financial products in India is still very low. Hence, marketing of financial products is a tricky balance between educating the customer and brand awareness. You have to keep in mind that there are two types of customers, a smaller segment that is financially aware, while the larger mass is still coming to grips with financial terms and products. Marketing needs to be able to speak to both, hence the balance becomes important. Also, other communication elements such as product literature, customer communication, sales aids and even tele-calling scripts are critical in financial services to ensure that it is jargon-free, simple and customer-friendly.

Opt for ECS Facility for Automatic Premium Payment

Administrator — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:39:00 GMT

The Economic Times

T R Ramachandran CEO & MD, Aviva India

Mr. Krishnan has a child insurance policy and pays the premium on a quarterly basis. He is very diligent with paying the premiums as he has taken the policy to facilitate his daughter’s higher education. However, of late, he has been travelling frequently on work and therefore has been keeping extremely busy. He has already defaulted twice on the premium payment for the policy despite the reminders sent by the insurer. Consequently, his policy is on the verge of being discontinued by the insurance company. This problem is commonplace given the busy schedules that many of us have today. Krishnan’s problem is just one example. It is easy to default on our premium payments because of things as trivial as running out of cheque leaves or simply forgetting the due date. An effective answer to Krishnan’s problem, and for all of us , is ECS — or electronic clearing service. Involving automatic fund transfer from one bank account to another. It is designed to assist in making periodic payments of any kind, ranging from insurance premiums to utility bills. When the ECS facility is activated for insurance premium payment, the premium is deducted by the policyholder’s bank at a pre-decided date and remitted directly to the insurer.

WHY PAY PREMIUMS THROUGH ECS

Since regular payment of premiums is critical for any insurance policy, subscribing to ECS will ensure that there are no defaults, therefore eliminating any possibility of lapsation. It is a hassle-free method that does away with all concerns on the customer’s part to keep a track of premium payments. It is also convenient as it involves no physical transaction nor does it require the customer to go to any bank or office. While many policyholders may be skeptical about using an automated system for monetary transactions, you can rest assured of the safety of your money while using this facility as ECS is tightly regulated by the RBI. The policyholder’s account and policy details too remain confidential, as mandated by the regulator. Also, subscribing to ECS for insurance premium payment is pocket friendly as there is no additional charge levied either by the bank or the insurer for availing this facility.

HOW DOES ECS WORK

To avail the facility of paying premiums through ECS, the policyholder has to fill an ECS mandate form which can be procured online or from the insurance firm. Once the customer has filled the form and submitted the same with a cancelled cheque to the insurance company, the rest of the formalities are taken care of by the insurance company with the bank. By doing so, the policyholder authorises the bank to deduct the premium on the due date. Once the ECS facility is activated and the premium amount starts getting deducted from the policy holder’s account, the customer gets receipt notifications from the insurance company. ECS facility is currently offered in select cities which vary for each insurer. Typically, most of the large- and mini-metros and tier-II cities are covered . ECS payments can only be made on a policy on which there is no overdrawn premium. Also, one must keep in mind that sufficient balance is to be maintained in the bank account. One can set the maximum amount that can be debited from the account and also set the validity period for the mandate. In case the customer wishes to discontinue the policy or simply switch back to regular means of payment (other than ECS) he can do so by sending a written application to the insurer as well as the bank. When you deploy the ECS payment mechanism, this also leads to improvement in efficacy levels of insurance firms by reducing administrative work and cost, and enables them to provide superior service. Planning and automating premium payment through this route is indeed an ideal solution for today’s busy consumers.