Q] Exide Life Insurance’s CSR campaign focuses on road accidents, what was the idea behind it?
We feel that we have a responsibility towards making people aware. In 2017, we conducted a survey which indicated that more than 50% of the Indian two-wheeler drivers do not wear a helmet, and 74% respondents revealed that they did not wear a helmet while riding pillion. Being part of the life insurance sector, we wanted to spread the message of protecting lives. This gave us a clarity on starting this campaign. Before this particular campaign, we did a leg last year which said, ‘you never ride alone’. The message was clear that people should understand that their loved ones are looking forward to seeing them back home in the evening. That is the thought process behind the campaign.
Q] In which cities did Exide Life Insurance carry out the campaign and what was the impact?
Before the pandemic began in 2020, we conducted the campaign offline as well as online. We did physical campaigns in Ujjain, Coimbatore, Bhopal, Mysore, Pune, Jaipur and Bangalore. We have a lot of presence in these cities. We tied up with local traffic police departments, and under their supervision, conducted demonstrations at key traffic junctions and created awareness by engaging in conversations with drivers and pillion riders. Further, we engaged with 20 schools and over 600 students to explain the importance of wearing helmets and safety measures to follow on roads. We did targeted outreach to people on digital and social media platforms. We created a strong content to deliver the message. Due to the pandemic, we primarily switched to digital and have tied up with a few partners and conducted virtual classes on road safety for schools and colleges.
Q] Several state governments in India have increased the penalties for not wearing helmets, do you think that India still lacks precautionary and road safety measures?
I think yes. More importantly, the whole aspect of wearing a helmet is behavioural. There is a high percentage of people who do not wear helmets. At several places, such as highways, there might not be enough presence of traffic police officials, and at such places people do not wear helmets despite fines being increased. I think wearing helmets is a behavioural change and people should be responsible while riding vehicles. In 2022, nearly 3.5 lakh road accidents were reported by the National Crime Record Bureau and more than 1.3 lakh people lost their lives in road accidents. When it comes to life, everyone should be responsible, and we always say that ‘you never ride alone’. Your loved ones are waiting for you to come back home. So, wearing a helmet is just being responsible and giving importance to life.
Q] What other innovative strategies does Exide Life Insurance utilize to increase its reach and revenue growth?
We have a strong hold across 200+ locations we try to operate on. From the business side, there are various parameters that kick in in terms of expanding. Being in the category of life insurance, we focus on spreading awareness about financial planning and savings. This is the strategic approach. We have more than 40,000 advisors and they help us in the process. Few years ago, we did campaigns on television, but now we have a heavy presence on digital and social media platforms.
Q] Today, several banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) companies heavily utilize influencers to spread brand awareness, does Exide Life Insurance have such a strategy?
We do use influencers for marketing and brand awareness. When we went completely online in 2020-2021, we got influencers to speak with people online. The point is that there are various aspects to look at when we conduct such interactions. Looking at the positive results, we will be continuing with it. Influencer marketing helps you optimize a lot of budget. It works depending on how one chooses to utilize it.
