SBI Life is one of India’s leading life insurance companies. Established in October 2000, it aims to make insurance accessible to everyone through its pan-India network of 1000+ offices, 24,000 employees and over 2.43 lakh agents.
In 2021, it approached chlorophyll to help it redefine what brand SBI Life stood for, especially in the eyes of millennials.
Challenges
Challenge one: Differentiate brand SBI Life at two levels. One, from parent brand SBI and other entities in the SBI family. Two, from other life insurance brands in India.
Process
Before chlorophyll came on board, team SBI Life had conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with the internal and external stakeholders.
We used the initial research as an input for the preliminary study of the brand definition process. We also conducted comprehensive interviews with 20 respondents, both internal and external.
Using the results from both of these studies, we conducted an immersion session with the brand owners of SBI Life.
We analysed all the inputs to develop the draft brand directions, which were further studied in large-scale research. We conducted in-depth research across eight cities, speaking to over 150 individuals from diverse demographics for over 300 hours.
OutCome
Brand Core (reworded for confidentiality):
This research helped us arrive at an articulation of what brand SBI Life stood for (we call it ‘Brand Core’).
One must be independent to live a fulfilling life.
Manifesto:
Indian society has changed from collective to individual, where identity is defined by the individual rather than her web of relationships and their demands.
Which is why SBI Life is committed to enabling independence of thought in making choices about wants and needs, irrespective of age, geography, profession and gender.
SBI Life. Now every Indian can fulfil her individual dream without abandoning her collective responsibility.
ideantity™:
SBI Life’s new identity is a combination of the parent brand’s solidity and the contemporary wordmark ‘Life’.
While the ‘Iconic Pink’ gradient helps the wordmark ‘Life’ stand out, the sharp edges of its letters symbolise the brand’s dynamism and forward movement.
Brand line:
SBI Life’s promise of enabling individuals to explore their ‘wants’ while securing the ‘needs’ of their loves ones was aptly captured in the brand line ‘Apne liye. Apno ke liye.’
For the launch, chlorophyll created a manifesto, that culminated in the brand line, which was recorded in Kabir Bedi’s unique voice.
Brand architecture:
One of chlorophyll’s key recommendation was to follow a monolithic brand architecture, which means there will be one single master brand: SBI Life.
Guidelines were set for all sub-brands or initiative names to strengthen the equity of brand SBI Life, rather than dilute its impact by attracting attention.
Sub-brands:
chlorophyll also set guidelines for the consistent usage of existing sub-brands.
They were redesigned to resemble the wordmark ‘Life’ from the brand identity in terms of colours and fonts, so that they could strengthen the master brand.
Qualifier line:
SBI Life’s brand promise is captured as ‘Karo poore apne irade, apno se kiye
sabhi vaade.’
Brand device:
chlorophyll also created an own-able and distinctive brand asset that helped SBI Life differentiate its communication from other brands in the category: the brand device of L.
We created detailed guidelines to maintain consistency in its usage across touch-points, so it lends a memorable look for SBI Life’s communication.
Brand manual:
A 300-page broad manual was created with the details of the brand strategy, brand assets, communication templates, digital and print.
Brand Manual:
TEAM
Planning Team
Rochna Poddar
Khushboo Bhavsar
Creative Team
Mukesh Mankame
Kaustubh Lele
Rahul Gangan
Sunil Kanawaje