HDFC Standard Life revamps brand identity

HDFC Standard Life has unveiled a new brand identity on the occasion of its 10th anniversary year in a bid to create more relevance and connect with a younger demographic. Leo Burnett has worked on the multimedia campaign, while Ray+Kesavan|The Brand Union has created the new identity for the insurance brand.    

Elaborating on the need for a refreshed brand identity, Sanjay Tripathy, executive vice president - marketing and direct channels, HDFC Standard Life said, “Majority of our population is now below the age of 25 and to continue to be successful, it is imperative to be relevant to the changing lifestyles, values and ambitions of the young Indian consumer. Our new corporate identity is in tune with the changing consumer behaviour. It reflects vibrancy and dynamism, uses colours that resonate the ‘new age’ values for life insurance, weeds out irrelevant clutter, and adds more clarity and sharpness to the logo. The new identity shares higher synergies with our parent – HDFC Ltd., and is inspired by the form and colours of the HDFC brand.”

The 'Standard' has been knocked off from the HDFC Standard Life Insurance logo, and now reads 'HDFC Life'. Answering a query on that, Tripathy, explained, “Consumers did not connect with the name of the international promoters of the company, Standard Life Insurance. The word 'Standard' was being treated just as a word to describe the insurance offered by us. Hence, we decided to remove it from the branding.”

Describing the logo, a press note from the brand, informed, “The three dimensional logo comes together to create a frame, capturing life’s special moments that can be looked upon with pride and joy and lends well to a memorable look and feel. Red stands for vibrancy, youthfulness, exuberance, Blue for dependability, financial expertise, and dark red for (vermillion) long life.”

The TVC shows a girl tying rakhi to her young brother and asking for her gift. When the father offers money to his son, the guy presents his sister with a blank cheque and asks her to deposit the cheque when he gets a job.

On the campaign, K V Sridhar, National Creative Director, Leo Burnett, said, “Ambition must be rooted in reality. The single largest equity the brand has is, ‘sar utha ke jiyo’ and the challenge to the team was to refresh that emotion and make it contemporary and young.” 

Nitesh Tiwari, ECD, Leo Burnett, elaborates, “Emotions are universal and timeless but every passing generation interprets them differently. Similarly, self respect is as important to me as it was to my father or even his father but our ways of demonstrating them are different. And it is this change that we have attempted to capture in the film.”

The company’s new brand campaign is directed by filmmaker E Niwas. Apart from television, the new campaign will be supported by other mediums such as print, radio, OOH, Internet, mobile, and on-ground initiatives. MEC is handling the media planning and buying for the brand. 

Credits:

Agency: Leo Burnett

Client: HDFC Life

Creative team:  K V Sridhar (Pops), Nitesh Tiwari and Rupesh Kashyap

Director: E Niwas