By Tamanna Khanna,
Head - Marketing, IndiaFirst Life Insurance
A PRapport Special
Every brand has a philosophy. Some purpose
and some values that it lives by. This
philosophy of a brand goes way beyond its product or service alone. It goes
beyond to reach out to the society it works in and connect with it.
At IndiaFirst, we believe in the philosophy
of making life easier and spreading smiles. Our products, services, processes -
are built on the same foundation, where we strive to simplify insurance (our
business) as much as we can, securing numerous lives in the process. However,
we do realize, we cannot at the same time ignore the core in which we exist –
the society that impacts all our lives.
Whether a consumer is an existing customer or
a potential one who may or may not drive our business, but reaching out to him
and developing a relationship, or at least some sort of a connect with him
becomes essential for every brand. And
this is where social issues/ causes help in building bridges.
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| Tamanna |
Possibly, social causes are just a way for
the brand to ensure that it’s living up to its core philosophy, its belief and
its ethos. Experience is that taking up
social responsibilities or causes provides tangible benefits along with lasting
competitive advantages to organizations. For instance, when Tata Tea talks to
its consumers through a Jaago Re campaign, it attempts to make a difference in
its consumer’s day-to-day life. It wants to imprint the brand’s standout image
in the consumer’s mindset and stay on the top of their recall when any similar
social, civilian issues rise up. Does this mean that every person who connects
with the brand and its philosophy buys Tata Tea? Not necessarily. But the cause that the brand
supports, adds up to the brand recall value and you cannot miss Tata Tea on the
shelves. And this, in turn, also increases a possibility of you eventually
turning into a Tata Tea consumer.
A social cause is not meant to be looked at
as just a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative driven by the company. It
is rather marketing and customer engagement at its very best – which needs the
entire organization to get involved in. As a business model, it forms a base
for the company’s market value, operational efficiency, as well as a boost to
brand value.
Contributing to the society that we live in
may not have a direct relation to the business graphs but they strategically drive
consumer minds towards the brands as they build a compelling story that binds
the brand to the consumer – building a unique relationship and rapport.
It obviously makes sense to create a business
model that weaves explicit goals for profit, environmental performance, and
social efforts along with meeting the brand’s core philosophy. At the same
time, all of this needs to yield long-term business goals rather than focusing
on the short-term business benefits.
One such attempt was IndiaFirst Life Insurance
‘Happy India’ initiative that aims to nurture the
attitude of working towards constructive change and creating change among the
school going children in the age bracket of 11-16 years. Happy
India is an effort to provide children a chance to not just demand
change but actually ‘create’ it, by supporting them in implementing their ‘Ideas for Change’.
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| School children in an education exercise - part of Happy India project |
Irrespective of the 2% provision for CSR as
per the new Companies Act, our firm belief is that brands need to remember that building a sustainable
business requires connecting with the society it lives in (and making profits)
to go hand in hand. It is essential for
them to study and chalk out social and environmental strategies that will be
driven by the brand purpose while keeping the motive genuine. More than being a
marketing activity or any sort of publicity buff, the initiative fundamentally
needs to be embedded in the company’s core values and purpose and make a
difference.
Any initiative to be successful needs to add
value not only to its stakeholders which include its customers, employees, the
business community, but also bring in some economic, social, environmental
value to its core business functions.
Crack this model, and you can have loyal
customers for life!
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