Bajaj Allianz recruits Vijender Singh for new campaign

Bajaj Allianz has launched a new campaign featuring Olympic winning boxer Vijender Singh. The new campaign created by M&C Saatchi looks at attracting a younger audience towards the company’s portfolio of financial products under the Early Start Plan.

The TVC opens on a young baby being cuddled by his mother as he is lying in his crib. As she nuzzles him lovingly, the baby playfully boxes her face. She chides him saying, “Vijju, Badmash.”

The film then cuts to a Ramleela being enacted by school children. As a young boy dressed as Raavan threatens to destroy Ram, the boy dressed as Ram throws the bow and arrow given to him for his role and starts boxing Raavan. The teacher in the background calls out “Vijju” in exasperation. The film then shows Vijju (Vijender Singh) boxing the dough to make rotis in his mother’s kitchen. His mother walks in, just then and calls out to him to stop. The film then cuts to Vijju in the boxing ring, fighting off an opponent, ultimately defeating him. The film ends on Vijender who turns around to say that whether its boxing or life, it pays to make an early beginning.

Speaking to Campaign India, Akshay Mehrotra, marketing head, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance explained the challenge that faced them before they briefed the agency, “The question was how to talk to a young audience about planning their investments early on in their life. There are basically four categories of products that we wanted to advertise to a younger audience. These were Early Investment plans, Early Retirement plans, Early Child investment plans and early health insurance. We also wanted to reach out to a larger more mass consumer base.”

The most common barrier to insurance as a category is consumer denial about the need for insurance early on in their life. The task was to drive home the point that the earlier that consumers chose to invest in life insurance, the better the returns for them, in terms of lower premiums.  

Bajaj Allianz’s creative business is handled by TBWA India and this campaign was a one off project that was created by M&C Saatchi for the insurance company. Mehrotra explained that they gave this project to M&C Saatchi as they wanted a fresh look to the brand. “M&C came up with a concept that we really liked and was eventually very well executed,” he added.

Mehrotra added, “We were one of the first brands to sign Vijender on and this association will help with broadening our appeal and making the brand more mass oriented.”