PNB MetLife plots wacky vanishing act to show ‘anything can happen’

PNB MetLife has rolled out a digital campaign, which includes a 75-second film conceptualised by McCann Erickson.

 

The film is set around a street magic show. A couple and their son walk around a fair towards the show. The magician's assistant picks the husband for his next act. With his son and onlookers egging him on, the man reluctantly steps in. The magician turns him into a pigeon to a round of applause. As he's about to turn the pigeon back into human form, the noise of a balloon bursting makes the pigeon fly from the spot. It joins other pigeons taking flight and they settle atop a building. As the wife and son look on in shock, the film ends with the message, 'Anything can happen in life, get insured.' 

 

Speaking with Campaign India, Niraj Shah, director – strategy, marketing and products, PNB MetLife India, said, "The objective with this digital-only film is to try and communicate our core proposition of trying to address situations where due to uncertainties life can come to a standstill or change from here on. In our case situations could be death, deterioration of health, or milestones such as retirement. We wanted to send home the message in a manner which is not very morose or serious. We wanted to communicate it effectively but not too seriously."

 

On the digital only approach, he added, "We consciously tried to look at changing preferences of our consumer base of today and tomorrow. A lot of people are approaching viewership in a different way. If we look at data, a third of our population is already using the internet. We wanted to test our hypothesis and roll out a digital-only campaign and check our reach. We’ve done this in the past too, and the feedback we received was good. Digital allows instant feedback which allows us to react to it quicker and then put in a response."

 

The film went live on 6 June 2016.

 

Credits

 

Client: PNB MetLife India Insurance Company 

Agency: McCann Erickson India

Account management: Alok Lall, Nutan Sooda, Farhat Naim

Creative team: Pradeep Kumar, Ravinder Siwach

Production company: Razorblade Films

Director (film): Anwar Sayed

Producer: Christopher Wagner

DOP: Krishnna Banjan

Composer: Amar Mangrulkar

 

(Amended at 1400 hrs on 6 June.  A comment on digital's share of PNB MetLife's marketing spend has been removed basis claim that the spokesperson had been misquoted.)