PROJECT REPORT

ON

Impact of Branding in life Insurance industry

A Study Project
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of
MBA

2006 – 2008

Submitted by: Under the guidance of

Vinod Kumar Mrs.Sukhmni

BHARATI VIDYAPEETH UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH, NEW DELHI
(A Constituent Unit of Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune)
An ISO 9001:2000 Certified Institute
“A” Grade Accreditation to BVU Pune by NAAC
 Preface
Summer training is an essential academic requirement, which enables the student to have a
glimpse of the corporate world and to implement the theoretical aspects read in the class in to
the real world situation, This period of two months prepare a student to face the problem that
come in the way of finding solution to corporate enigma.

I sincerely believe that road to improvement is never ending and one always learns from a new
experience. This Project is a step towards gaining knowledge about real world and putting the
theory into practice. I shall look forward to and great fully acknowledge all suggestion on this
small step I have taken

This Project is a study of ‘Impact of Branding on Life Insurance Products’ for

ICICI PRUDENTIAL life Insurance company
 Acknowledgement

I find great pleasure in expressing my deep sense of gratitude towards all those who have
made it possible for me to complete this Project with success. I would first of all like to
thank Mr. Vineet Singhal (UM). He gave me an opportunity to do this Project for the
esteemed company and also helped me immensely as my Project guide. He provided me
with valuable knowledge, gave me precious time and shared his experiences with the
company and recent developments that are taking place in the same organization.

Also I would like to express my gratitude to Mr A Mr. Vinay Jasiwal, Branch Manager,
ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIC, Dwarka. My heartiest thanks go to Mr.Kapoor Singh, (UM) for
their help, cooperation and concern towards me during my summer training at their branch.

I would like to express my deepest and sincerest gratitude to Prof. Sukhmani as my

internal guide for his dynamic and valuable guidance and keep interest in my Project work.
I am grateful to him for his constant encouragement in the completion of my Project Work.
This was also an opportunity given to me by our esteemed Business school BVIMR, New
Delhi that I participated in such quality expansion program

Last but not least a special thank to all my friend Rajesh Nain and priceless
Seniors for standing by me and encouraging me throughout the duration of the Project
work.
Table of Contents Page No.
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Chapter-1 Introduction.
1.1 Overview of Industry as a Whole.
1.2 Profile of the Organisation.
1.3 Problems of the Organisation.
1.4 Competition Information.
1.5 S.W.O.T. Analysis of the Organisation.

Chapter-2 Objective and Methodology

2.1 Significance.
2.2 Managerial usefulness of the Study.
2.3 Objectives.
2.4 Scope of the Study.
2.5 Methodology.

Chapter-3 Conceptual Discussion.

BCG Matrix Analysis

Chapter-4 Data Analysis.

Chapter-5 Findings and Recommendations.

ANNEXURE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Chapter-1 Introduction

1.1 Overview of Industry as a Whole.

1.2 Profile of the Organisation.
1.3 Problems of the Organisation.
1.4 Competition Information.
1.5 S.W.O.T. Analysis of the Organisation.
 CHAPTER-1

Introduction

1.1 Overview of the Life Insurance industry

With largest number of life insurance policies in force in the world. Insurance happens to be a
mega opportunity in India. It’s a business growing at the rate of 15-20 per cent annually and
presently is of the order of Rs 450 billion. Togethe4r with banking service, it adds about 7
percent to the country’ GDP. Gross premium collection is nearly 2 per cent of GDP and funds
available with LIC for investment are 8 per cent of GDP.

Yet, nearly 80 per cent of Indian population is without life insurance cover, health insurance and
non-life insurance continue to be below international standards. And this part of the population is
also subject to weak social security and pension systems with hardly any old age income security.
This itself is an indicator that growth potential for the insurance sector is immense.

A well-developed and evolved insurance sector is needed for economic development as it

provides long-term funds for infrastructure development and at the same time strengthens the risk
taking ability. It is estimated that over the next ten years India would require investments of the
order of one trillion US dollar. The insurance sector, to some extent, can enable investment in
infrastructure development to sustain economic growth of the country.

With a large capital outlay and long gestation periods, infrastructure projects are fraught with a
multitude of risks throughout the development, construction and operation stages. These include
risks associated with project implementation, including geological risks, maintenance,
commercial and political risks. Without covering these risks the financial institutions are not
willing to commit funds to the sector, especially because the financial of most private project is
on a limited or non-recourse basis.
Insurance companies not only provide risk cover to infrastructure projects, they also contribute
long-term funds. In fact, insurance companies are an ideal source of long-term debt and equity
for infrastructure projects. With long-term liability, they get a good asset-liability match by
investing their funds in such projects.

IRDA regulations require insurance companies to invest not less then 15 per cent of their funds in
infrastructure and social sectors. International insurance companies also invest their funds in such
projects.
Insurance is a federal subject in India. There are two legislations that govern the sector. The
insurance Act- 1938 and the IRDA Act- 1999.

HISTORY
The origin of insurance is very old. The time when we were not even born; man has sought some
sort of protection from the unpredictable calamities of the nature. the basic urge in man to secure
himself against any from of risk and uncertainty led to the origin of insurance. Life insurance, in
its pristine from, evolved out of a sense of co-operation within the community that was present
even at the dawn of history. The Sanskrit term yogakshema, which means “well-being”, is
present in the Rig Veda and it is used in the context of some from of insurance in vogue during
the Aryan times. There are references in Kautilya’s Arthashastra to some kind of social security
system for the welfare of the subjects. Later on, the Indian joint family system too fulfilled the
need for security.

In the western world, life insurance evolved mainly from the maritime industry. Shakespeare
speaks of ‘putters out of five’ in some of his plays an oblique reference to private financial who
used to gamble on the lives of sea-farers by offering five times the money deposited with them in
case of certain contingencies.

The history of life insurance in India dates back to 1818 when it was conceived as a means to
provide for English widows. Interestingly in those days a higher premium was charged for Indian
lives than the non-Indian lives, as Indian lives were considered more risky for coverage.
The Bombay Mutual Life Insurance Society its business in 1870. It was the first company to
charge same premium for both Indian and non-Indian lives. The Oriental Assurance Company
was established in 1880. The first general insurance company Tital Insurance Company Limited
was established in 1850. Till the end of nineteenth century insurance business was almost entirely
in the hands of overseas companies.

Insurance regulation formally began in India with the passing of the life Insurance Company Act
of 1912 and the provident fund act of 1912. Several frauds during 20’s and 30’s sullied insurance
business in India. By 1938 there were 176 insurance companies. The first comprehensive
legislation was introduced with the insurance Act of 1938 that provided strict state control over
insurance business. The insurance business grew at a faster pace after independence. India
companies strengthened their hold on this business but despite the growth that was witnessed,
insurance remained an urban phenomenon.

The Government of India in 1956, brought together over 240 private life insurance and provident
societies under one nationalized was justified on the grounds that it would create much needed
funds for rapid industrialization. This was in conformity with the government’s chosen path of
state lead planning and development.

The (non-life) insurance business, however, continued to thrive the private sector till 1972. Their
operations were restricted to organized trade and industry in large cities. The general insurance
industry was nationalized in 1972. With this, nearly 107 insurance were amalgamated and
grouped into four companies. National insurance Company, New India Assurance Company,
Oriental Insurance company and United India Insurance company. These were subsidiaries of the
General Insurance company

At the time of independence and thereafter, there were more then 200 companies operating in
India and not all of them on sound ethical principle. Many factors combined together to prompt
the then government to nationalize the life insurance industry in 1956 to from the Life Insurance
Corporation of India.
The years from 1956 to 1999 saw the Life Insurance Corporation of India emerge as a giant
financial institution and lone organization purveying life insurance, if we ignore the minimal
presence of postal life insurance. The institution succeeded in penetrating many area and
segments of the population and in garnering public money for public welfare.

Winds of Change
It was in the 1990’s that the winds of change started sweeping over India and brought in their
wake many changes in the economy. Liberalization ensured competition in many fields and there
was a clamor that the insurance industry too be opened up to private India and foreign players to
provide the customer with a choice.

The Malhotra Committee, appointed in 1993 was given the mandate to study the industry and to
suggest the changes that were necessary to make it modern and in tune with people’s aspirations.
The report submitted by the committee was the precursor of the IRDA bill, which was recently
passed by the Parliament. The committee came up with the following major provisions Private
Companies with a minimum paid up capital of Rs.1 should be allowed to enter the industry
Foreign companies may be allowed to enter the industry in collaboration with the domestic
companies. Only one State level Life Insurance Company should be allowed to operate in each
state. It was after this committee came into affect the regulatory body for insurance sector was
formed with the name of IRDA

IRDA: The IRDA since its incorporation as statutory body has been framing regulation and
registering the private sector insurance companies. IRDA being an independent statutory body
has put a framework of globally compatible regulations.

IMPACT OF LIBERALIZATION
The introduction of private players in the industry has added to the colors in the dull industry.
The initiatives taken by the private players are very competitive and have given immense
competition to the on time monopoly of the market LIC. Since the advent of the private players
in the market the industry has seen new and innovative steps taken by the players in this sector.
The new players have improved the service quality of the insurance. As a result LIC down the
years have seen the declining phase in its carrier. The market share was distributed among the
private players. Though LIC still holds the 75% of the insurance sector but the upcoming natures
of these private players are enough to give more competition to LIC in the near future. LIC
market share has decreased from 95% (2002-03) to 81% (2004-05). The Indian consumer is
presented with a be wilding array of product, different in price, feature, benefits and procedures.
How he is going ton make his choice will determine the future of the industry. With the market
thrown open, the industry is at the crossroads again with reference to the course of its future
direction and the opportunities and the challenges it faces for itself, the regulator, and the society
as a whole.
With such a large population and the untapped market area of this population insurance happens
ton be a very big opportunity in India. Today it stands as a business growing at the rate 15-20 per
cent annually. Together with banking service, it adds about 7 per cent to the country GDP. In
spite of all this growth the static’s of the penetration of the insurance in the country is very poor.
Nearly 80% of Indian populations are without life insurance cover and Health insurance. This is
an indicator that growth potential for the insurance sector is immense in India.
1.2 Profile of the Organization

ICICI
ICICI Bank is India's second-largest bank with total assets of Rs. 3,446.58 billion (US$ 79
billion) at March 31, 2007 and profit after tax of Rs. 31.10 billion for fiscal 2007. ICICI Bank is
the most valuable bank in India in terms of market capitalization and is ranked third amongst all
the companies listed on the Indian stock exchanges in terms of free float market capitalization*.
The Bank has a network of about 950 branches and 3,300 ATMs in India and presence in 17
countries. ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate
and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialized
subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture
capital and asset management. The Bank currently has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom,
Russia and Canada, branches in Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Dubai
International Finance Centre and representative offices in the United States, United Arab
Emirates, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Our UK
subsidiary has established a branch in Belgium.
ICICI Bank's equity shares are listed in India on Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock
Exchange of India Limited and its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the New
York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
History
ICICI Bank was originally promoted in 1994 by ICICI Limited, an Indian financial institution,
and was its wholly owned subsidiary. ICICI's shareholding in ICICI Bank was reduced to 46%
through a public offering of shares in India in fiscal 1998, an equity offering in the form of ADRs
listed on the NYSE in fiscal 2000, ICICI Bank's acquisition of Bank of Madura Limited in an all-
stock amalgamation in fiscal 2001, and secondary market sales by ICICI to institutional investors
in fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2002. ICICI was formed in 1955 at the initiative of the World Bank, the
Government of India and representatives of Indian industry. The principal objective was to create
a development financial institution for providing medium-term and long-term project financing to
Indian businesses. In the 1990s, ICICI transformed its business from a development financial
institution offering only project finance to a diversified financial services group offering a wide
variety of products and services, both directly and through a number of subsidiaries and affiliates
like ICICI Bank. In 1999, ICICI become the first Indian company and the first bank or financial
institution from non-Japan Asia to be listed on the NYSE.
After consideration of various corporate structuring alternatives in the context of the emerging
competitive scenario in the Indian banking industry, and the move towards universal banking, the
managements of ICICI and ICICI Bank formed the view that the merger of ICICI with ICICI
Bank would be the optimal strategic alternative for both entities, and would create the optimal
legal structure for the ICICI group's universal banking strategy. The merger would enhance value
for ICICI shareholders through the merged entity's access to low-cost deposits, greater
opportunities for earning fee-based income and the ability to participate in the payments system
and provide transaction-banking services. The merger would enhance value for ICICI Bank
shareholders through a large capital base and scale of operations, seamless access to ICICI's
strong corporate relationships built up over five decades, entry into new business segments,
higher market share in various business segments, particularly fee-based services, and access to
the vast talent pool of ICICI and its subsidiaries. In October 2001, the Boards of Directors of
ICICI and ICICI Bank approved the merger of ICICI and two of its wholly owned retail finance
subsidiaries, ICICI Personal Financial Services Limited and ICICI Capital Services Limited, with
ICICI Bank. The merger was approved by shareholders of ICICI and ICICI Bank in January
2002, by the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad in March 2002, and by the High Court of
Judicature at Mumbai and the Reserve Bank of India in April 2002. Consequent to the merger,
the ICICI group's financing and banking operations, both wholesale and retail, have been
integrated in a single entity.
Prudential
Prudential Financial companies serve individual and institutional customers worldwide and
include The Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance
companies in the U.S. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including life
insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement-related services and administration,
asset management, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage franchises, relocation
services and, through a joint venture, retail securities brokerage.

Prudential Financials Common Stock (NYSE:PRU) reflects the performance of its Financial
Services Businesses, which consist of its Insurance, Investment, and International Insurance and
Investments divisions and its Corporate and Other operations.

Principal Business
Insurance Division
The Insurance division conducts its business through the Individual Life, Individual Annuities
and Group Insurance segments.
Our Individual Life segment manufactures and distributes individual variable life, term life,
universal life and non-participating whole life insurance products.
Our Individual Annuities segment manufactures and distributes individual variable and fixed
annuity products.
Our Group Insurance segment manufactures and distributes a full range of group life, long-term
and short-term group disability, long-term care, and corporate- and trust-owned life insurance in
the U.S. primarily to institutional clients for use in connection with employee and membership
benefits plans. Group Insurance also sells accidental death and dismemberment and other
ancillary coverage’s and provides plan administrative services in connection with its insurance
coverage’s.
On May 1, 2003, Prudential acquired American Skandia, one of the largest distributors of
variable annuities through independent financial planners in the United States. The acquisition
propelled Prudential into a top 10 spot in the annuity marketplace.
On June 1, 2006, Prudential acquired Allstate's variable annuity business through a reinsurance
transaction. Prudential is the fourth largest provider of advisor-sold variable annuities as
measured by assets under administration and management (based on VARDS data, 12/31/06).
Prudential Financials life insurance subsidiary* is one of the leading providers of group
insurance in the United States. Our resources, financial strength and stability allow us to honor
long-term commitments to employers and employees alike. The Prudential Insurance Company
of America

Investment Division
The Investment division conducts its business through the Asset Management, Financial
Advisory, and Retirement segments.
The Asset Management segment provides a broad array of investment management and advisory
services, mutual funds and other structured products.
The Financial Advisory segment provides full service securities brokerage and financial advisory
services to individuals and businesses through our joint venture with Wachovia Corporation. The
Financial Advisory segment also includes our equity sales, trading and research operations.
Our Retirement segment provides retirement investment and income products and services to the
public, private, and not-for-profit organizations. Our full service line of business provides record
keeping, plan administration, actuarial advisory services, tailored participant education and
communication services, trustee services and institutional and retail investment funds. In our
institutional investment products line of business, we offer guaranteed investment contracts, or
GICs, funding agreements, institutional and retail notes, structured settlement annuities, and
group annuities for defined contribution plans, defined benefit plans, non-qualified entities, and
individuals.
On July 1, 2003, we combined our retail securities brokerage and clearing operations with those
of Wachovia Corporation, creating one of the nation's largest retail financial advisory
organizations. The new firm is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Wachovia has a 62%
ownership interest in the new firm, and Prudential owns the remaining 38%.
On April 1, 2004, we acquired the retirement business of CIGNA Corporation.

International Division
The International Insurance and Investments division conducts its business through the
International Insurance and International Investments segments.
Our International Insurance segment manufactures and distributes individual life insurance
products to the mass affluent and affluent markets in Japan, Korea and other foreign countries
through Life Planners. In addition, we offer similar products to the broad middle income market
across Japan through Life Advisors, who are associated with our separately operated Gibraltar
Life Insurance Company, Ltd., or Gibraltar Life, operation, which we acquired in April 2001. We
commenced sales in foreign markets through our Life Planner operations, as follows: Japan,
1988; Taiwan, 1990; Italy, 1990; Korea, 1991; Brazil, 1998; Argentina, 1999; Philippines,
1999; Poland, 2000; and Mexico, 2006. We also have representative offices in China and India.
Our International Investments segment offers proprietary and non-proprietary asset management,
investment advice and services to retail and institutional clients in selected international markets.
These services are marketed through our own and third-party distribution networks and
encompass the businesses of international investments operations and global commodities group.
In late 1987, Prudential of Japan was established, a very successful insurance business that the
company has used as a model for other international insurance ventures.
On April 20, 2001, we completed the acquisition of Kyoei Life Insurance Co., Ltd., a financially
troubled Japanese life insurer now renamed "Gibraltar Life Insurance Co., Ltd." By building on
experience gained in ventures in the United States and internationally, Prudential Financial
continues to pursue new opportunities overseas in insurance and investment and asset
management. Prudential Financial continues to expand internationally through building on
successful business models and developing and expanding local expertise. In November of 2004,
Prudential acquired Aoba Life Insurance Company, adding 350,000 life insurance policies to our
Life Planner business in Japan.

The Partnership
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between ICICI Bank, a premier
financial powerhouse, and prudential plc, a leading international financial services group
headquartered in the United Kingdom. ICICI Prudential was amongst the first private sector
insurance companies to begin operations in December 2000 after receiving approval from
(IRDA).
ICICI Prudential capital stands at Rs. 23.72 billion with ICICI Bank and Prudential plc holding
74% and 26% stake respectively. For the first quarter ended June 30, 2007, the company
garnered Rs. 987 crore of weighted retail + group new business premiums and wrote over
450,000 retail policies in the period. The company has assets held to the tune of over Rs.18,400
crore.

ICICI Prudential is also the only private life insurer in India to receive a National Insurer
Financial Strength rating of AAA (Ind) from Fitch ratings. The AAA (Ind) rating is the highest
rating, and is a clear assurance of ICICI Prudential ability to meet its obligations to customer at
the time of maturity or claims.

For the past six years, ICICI Prudential has retained its position as the No. 1 private life insurer in
the country, with a wide range of flexible products that meet the needs of the Indian customer at
every step in life.

Distribution

ICICI Prudential has one of the largest distribution networks amongst private life insurers in
India. It has a strong presence across India with over 680 branches and over 235,000 advisors.

The company has over 23 bancassurnace partners, having tie-ups with ICICI Bank, Federal Bank,
South Indian Bank, Bank of India, Lord Krishna Bank, Idukki District Co-operative Bank,
Jalgaon Peoples Co-operative Bank, Shamrao Vithal Co-op Bank, Ernakulam Bank, 9 Bank of
India sponsored Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Sangli Urban Co-operative Bank, Baramati Co-
operative Bank, Ballia Kshetriya Gramin Bank, The Haryana State Co-operative Bank and
Imphal Urban Cooperative Bank Limited.

Awards and Recognitions

Awards

• India Most customer Responsive insurance Company Avaya Globalconnect Economic

Times Customer Responsiveness Awards
• Most Trusted Private Life Insurer The Economic Times –A c Nielsen Survey of most
Trusted Brand –2003,2004 and 2005
• Prudence Customer Centricity Award 2004 & 2005 Prudential Corporation Asia
• Best Life Insurer 2003 Outlook Money Awards 2003 & 2004
• IMM Award for Excellence Institute of Marketing & Management
• Organisation with Innovative Hr Practices Indira Group of Institutes
• Silver Effie for Effectiveness of the ‘Retire from Work not life’ advertising
campaign Effies 2003

Recognitions

• IMM Award for Excellence Institute of Marketing & Management

• Organisation with Innovative HR Practices Indira Group of Institutes
• Organisation with Innovative HR Practices Asia-Pacific HR Congress Awards for HR
Excellence

MARKETING CAMPAIGN OF ICICI PRUDENTIAL

Marketing is the main strength of any company, likewise at ICICI; marketing is given that extra
edge for better reach to its customers. It includes an array of activities, which includes TV
commercials, press and outdoor hoardings, news articles, product brochures, direct mail or
outdoor activities. It’s been recognized as India’s most trusted private life insurance brand.
According to our survey conducted through direct questionnaire method, we analyzed that brand
recall of ICICI is as strong as 95.6%, which no other private player in Insurance sector was able
to manage.

The marketing campaign of ICICI Prudential has always managed to emotionally connect with its
customers. ICICI has always highlighted its brand values and related them with Indian tradition
and values. The advertisement highlights the same. They relate the association of them with the
customers with something as strong and everlasting as a Marriage.
In 2004 only the company launched a new corporate campaign – an extension of the ‘Sindoor’
communication – which aims at reassuring customers that the company is committed to staying
with them through all the ups and downs in life, using marriage and the seven vows or ‘Saat
Pheras’ as a metaphor for commitment. The campaign aims at strengthening the brand by
memorably bringing out the ‘commitment for life’ element.

ICICI Prudential, the leading private sector player, saw a 112-per cent growth in premium
income, which shot up to Rs. 1,745 crore. ICICI had a 5.88 per cent share of the market. Next
came Bajaj Allianz (4.4 per cent market share), which saw a 103 per cent growth in premium
income. Other Private Non-life Insurance players include: SBI life (Premium Collection: Rs. 664
crore), HDFC Standard (Rs. 547 crore), Birla Sun Life (Rs. 319 crore), Max New York (Rs. 311
crore), Aviva (Rs. 302 crore), Tata AIG (Rs. 279 crore) and Reliance Life (Rs. 245 crore).

With the liberalization of the insurance market in 2000, building a separate insurance brand with
a towering public sector unit like LIC that held 100 per cent of the market share proved to be an
urgent as well as a daunting task. Awareness of the brand was the first goal that had to be met.
Insurance agents demanded that the companies support them by advertising. People they are
selling to should at the very least know that the brand they are selling really exists. Initially, all
advertising by private insurers ended up reinforcing the LIC brand image as the PSU was still
synonymous with life insurance.

Historically, print was the traditional choice for the medium of advertising. The break with
tradition came when ICICI Prudential arguably became the first private insurance company to
recognize and harness the power of TV advertising, with its `Sindoor' campaign in 2001. Then
came its retirement solutions campaign with the tagline `Retire from work, not life.' The second
campaign saw ICICI Prudential getting into product-specific advertising.

With Chintamani, insurance advertising got a new treatment. Chintamani is a very interesting
character. The Claymation (clay animation) along with a catchy jingle proved to be a clincher.
Chintamani, the mascot of the middle class, has become a household name. Even kids are
demanding toys modeled around his scraggly old figure. Thanks to him, ICICI Prudential now
enjoys a brand recall of 92 per cent next to LIC's 97 per cent, according to AC Nielsen's Brand
track 7 study out last year.
Now, most private players have 50-70 per cent of their ad spend skewed in favour of television.
Marketing budgets have been soaring for the past three years. Reportedly, on
a budget of Rs 5.8 crore for February 2005 alone, ICICI Prudential's
`Retirement solutions campaign' was the highest spending brand,
pipping several HLL brands to the post. The fact that insurance
selling activity reaches a peak around March also needs to be taken
into account. With the private players flexing their muscles, the
LIC pie has hit a down curve - down from 83 per cent last year
to 78 per cent this year.
In the Chart.1 we can see that Life insurance advertising on television between January and
November 2006 registered a rise of 84 per cent over the corresponding period in 2005. The total
amount spent up to November was Rs 257.5 crore (Rs 139.7 crore). According to the graph
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance was the second big spender (with 25 per cent of the share). With
the help of these figures we can say that the company is spending hefty amount in comparison of
other private players in the market to advertise its products.

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 VISION AND VALUES OF ICICI Prudential

VISION

To be the dominant Life, Health and Pensions player built on trust by world-class people and
service.

This we hope to achieve by:

 Understanding the needs of customers and offering them superior products and
service
 Leveraging technology service customers quickly, efficiently and conveniently
 Developing and implementing super risk management and investment strategies
to offer sustainable and stable returns to our policyholders
 Providing an enabling environment to foster growth and learning for our
employees
 And above all, building transparency in all our dealings.

The success of the company will be founded in its unflinching commitment to 5 core values --
Integrity, Customer First, Boundary less, Ownership and Passion. Each of the values describe
what the company stands for, the qualities of our people and the way we work.

We do believe that we are on the threshold of an exciting new opportunity, where we can play a
significant role in redefining and reshaping the sector. Given the quality of our parentage and the
commitment of our team, there are no limits to our growth.

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 VALUES

 Customer first
 Boundary less
 Ownership
 Passion
 Integrity

Boundary less

Never say, “It’s not my job”

• Offer help and support across functions to ensure business success.

• Seek and share ideas freely
• Recognize and respect internal customers
• Understand and value contributions from colleagues.

Integrity

Be honest and fair in what you say and do.

• Practice what you preach.

• Stand up honestly and fearlessly for what is right.
• Act in a consistent and equitable manner.
• Think and act for long-term impact.
• Do not compromise the future to pay for its present.

OWNERSHIP

If it is to be, it is up to me.

• Take responsibility and see tasks through to completion.

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 • Own mistakes, learn from failures.
• Pursue goals relentlessly, never give up.
• Be a team player, take ownership for team performance.

CUSTOMER FIRST

Own the customer, deliver the promise.

• Keep customer interest in the center of all decisions.

• Promise what you can, deliver it to finish.
• Proactively seek voice of customer and act on it.

PASSION

Boundless energy and enthusiasm.

• Exhibit “Winning instinct”.

• Demonstrate speed and urgency for achieving results.
• Challenge status quo and do things differently.
Nurture and motivate team members to reach full potential.

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Places Where Company is Operating:

ICIC Prudential Life Insurance is presently operational in the following cities of India:

Corporate Office:

Agra, Ahmedabad, Ahmednager, Ajmer, Allahabad, Alwer, Ambala, Amravati, Amritsar,

Asansol, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bareilly, Bhatinda, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai,
Coimbatore, Dehradun, Dharwad, Durgapur, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gandhinager, Ghaziabad,
Goa, Gorakhpur, Gurgaon, Gwalior, Hissar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Jalandhar,
Jammu, Jamnager, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Karnal, Kochi, Kolhapur, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Kutch,
Lucknow, Ludhiana, Maduria, Mangalore, Meerut, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, Nashik, New
Delhi, Nellore, Noida, Panipat, Patiala, Pondicherry, Pune, Raipur, Rajahmundry, Rajkot, Ranchi,
Salem, Secundarabad, Solapur, Surat, Thane, Thiruvananthapuram, Trichur, Trichy, Udaipur,
Vadodara, Vapi, Varansi, Vashi, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam.

ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LTD,

ICICI Pru Life Towers, 1089 Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai
400025. Tel.: 40391600

25
1.3 Problems of the Organisation
One of the biggest cause of uncertainty in the insurance market stems from a strong customer
perception that carriers are constantly changing direction. Carriers should focus on over-
communicating during this time as a means of easing anxiety. They should communicate where
they are going and what they will be doing as an organization to get there. They should
aggressively educate customers about changes in the industry and how they will be affected.
They should be consistent in their communications in order to build the message of what their
brand stands for and how they are delivering against it. This communication doesn’t need to be
executed solely through an expensive advertising campaign. It can be delivered through claims
service representatives, the CEO, underwriters, the sales force and every employee that represents
the brand in the market. Even at a time when organization are facing considerable turmoil and
have so much to juggle, brand building should become a strategic priority. The opportunity is ripe
to strengthen relationship with existing customers as well as reach out to customers who have
been disenfranchised by competitors’ efforts. Now more then ever, a strong brand is one of the
most crucial assets a business can have. Organizations realizing this will be better positioned to
prove that even when times were tough, they were consistent, stayed the course, and remained
focused on their customers as the priority of their business.

26
1.4 Competition Information
Following are the major competitors of ICICI PRUDENTIAL

• Life Insurance Corporation of India

• HDFC-SLIC
• Max Newyork Life Insurance Co.
• ING Vysya Life Insurance
• Allianz Bajaj Life Insurance Co.
• Birla Sun Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
• Aviva Life Insurance Co. India Pvt. Ltd.
• SBI Life Insurance Co.Ltd.
• MetLife India Insurance Co.Ltd.
• Om Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
• Sahara India Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
• TATA AIG Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
• Bharti Axa Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
• Reliance Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
• Shri Ram Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

27
1.5 Swot Analysis of ICICI-PRUDENTIAL
Swot analysis of the organization Business firm undertake Swot analysis
understand the external and internal environment. Swot, which is the acronym for strength,
weakness, opportunities and threats, is also know as wot-up analysis. Through such an analysis
strength and weakness existing within an organization can be matched with the opportunities and
threats operating in the environment so that an effective strategy can be formulated. Therefore, is
one that is capitalized on the opportunities and through the use of strength neutralizes the impact
of weakness

Strength:

♦ Number 1 private co. in insurance sector

♦ Brand power
♦ Strong assets and infrastructure.
♦ An employee friendly company
♦ Strong alliance with other MNCs.
♦ Ability to understand customer’s needs and offer right investment & protection solution
♦ Ability to handles large volumes
♦ Good mix of people with domain knowledge as well as people from different
backgrounds.

Weakness:

♦ Industry in nascent stage

♦ Awareness about private life insurance companies is very less.
♦ Still not popular in rural market

28
 ♦ Low branch in the country
♦ Lack of operational activities
♦ Cross selling to customers negligible

Opportunities:

♦ Liberalization of Indian economy

♦ Life insurance sector opening up
♦ Very small percentage of population insuranced in India
♦ One of the best product in market in Indian market
♦ Global market opportunity
♦ Large untapped Rural market

Threats:

♦ Foreign banks entering this segment of life insurance.

♦ Cut throat competition between ICICI PRU’s and the product of other 14 players in the
life insurance industry
♦ Apprehension towards ICICI Prudential being a private life insurance co.
♦ LIC very big player in urban as well as rural area
♦ Change in the government policy may affect the growth and expansion of the insurance
sector and the company

29
Chapter-2 Objectives and Methodology

2.1 Significance.
2.2 Managerial Usefulness of the Study.
2.3 Objectives
2.4 Scope of the Study.
2.5 Methodology

30
Chapter-2
OBJECTIVES & METHODOLOGY
2.1 Significance of Branding in Insurance
In an industry environment characterized by commodity pricing, increasing
unprofitable policies, and a saturated market, insurance company executives
are under increased pressure, not only to maintain existing client
relationships, but also to grasp a bigger piece of their consumers’ wallets
.One way insurance companies are tacking the challenge is by attempting to
extend their product lines to include a host of financial service offerings and
then reinventing their brands to support this extension. In general, however,
most are struggling in the face of several obstacles chief among them the
ability to build credibility as financial service providers while meeting
customers’ expectations of what it means to be a financial service company.
To make headway will require that insurance companies manage their
brands to achieve their growth objectives in the broader financial service
market without diluting their existing brand equity, causing customer
confusion and alienating their core customer base.

Insurance: A Risky Business?

31
The industry’s biggest challenge lies in how insurance brands and financial
services brands have traditionally positioned themselves. Insurance brands
are typically rooted in stability, trust, and protection from risk through a
standard set of product. Financial service brands, however, are based on
ensuring long term financial security through a broad range of inherently
risky services and investment options. Insurance companies such as state
farm (“like a good neighbor”) and all state (“the good hands people”) have
historically grounded their brands in being there in a time of crisis, or even
protecting against crises. This positioning gives them the credibility to sell
“risk free” product designed to help customers ensure that their families and
assets are protected. But a branding challenge arises when they extend into
product and service that are, by their very nature, risky. This is compounded
by the fact that core property and casualty insurance customers may have
difficulty reconciling conflicting traditions and messages.nevertheless,the
insurance industry must extend its stable of offering if it hopes to gain new
customers and remain competitive. The migration into financial service can
and should be done through leveraging the heritage and reputation of the
industry, and communicating both internally and externally that insurance is
merely one art of a consumer’s larger financial picture. Those who will be
most successful will realize how critical the brand strategy is an integral part
of their underlying business strategy. It will play a crucial role in
establishing and extending what insurers both stand for and promise, and
ultimately, it will shape he new image for the industry.

Building More Complete Brand Equity One of the biggest obstacles

insurance companies face in building brand equity that spans both insurance
and financial services lies n the preconceived notions about financial
services companies. Most consumers equate stock brokerage, financial
services, but these products are not yet typically offered by most insurers.
Thus, insurance companies to redefine their traditional product set in the
context of overall financial planning. Even without having communicated

32
 this clearly, however, many companies are beginning to entice consumers to
entrust more of their financial security to them. State firms insurance has
introduce state farm insurance mutual funds, a new division housing its
financial service product line. Northwestern mutual has changed its name to
Northwestern financial network and introduce the tagline, “Helping
achieved financial security for you and your family or your business”
Prudential financial has changed its tagline to, “Helping you grow and
protect your wealth”.
A name change or a new tagline along won’t suffice, however. The
origination ability to adopt a new mindset, moving from product push to
complete financial solution, will be critical.

Entering New Territory The quickest way for insurance company to gain
financial service capability and build credibility is through acquisition, with
the financial service and insurance
Brands initially being kept entirely separate or utilizing the insurance brand in an endorser role.
Either approach will allow the acquiring company to use the existing credibility of the established
financial service brand with halo like effect, eventually migrating towards one unifying brand. To
ate, few have chosen this route; most are testing the waters to determine the best course of action.
Achieving credibility s as much an internal as an external challenge. Employees can and should
be the business best ambassadors. However, insurance agents, for example, aren’t generally
perceived as being knowledgeable beyond insurance product. It’s important that they (and any
theirs who represent the company at any customer touch point) have the training they need in
order to comfortably take on the financial service industry. Without that grounding in this new
world of products, the agents, the customer’s main Point of contact in this industry, won’t be able
to make a credible sell, and external messaging around a new capability won’t come alive in the
brand customer relationship.

Gaining new ground

The jury is still on the winners and losers in this challenging environment. Clearly, though the
winners must seek the appropriate balance between messaging around new financial services

33
capabilities and not contradicting the heritage-based associations of their insurance brands.
Striking this balance will require understanding customers ‘perceptual boundaries and their
financial services and insurance purchase influence patterns. Research that drives understanding
of what existing and potential customers gives
Your company preference to do, will point the building a stronger, more complete financial
service brand.

2.2 Managerial Usefulness of study

Following are certain ways in which this report can be put to use by Managers of the
organization.
• Brand loyalty. A customer who has himself of more then one product from the bank is
drawn closer to the bank then a customer who has taken only one product. If a customer
having a saving account has taken a consumer/personal loan, the chances of switching to
another bank is less then when he has only savings account. if, n addition, he takes a
housing loan or any mortgage product, the chances of bank hopping further.
• Research studies have established that the percentage of loyalty increases with the number
of product the customer takes. The reasons may be for convenience, price and value
offerings by the bank for the total product solutions to the customer.
• Branding strategies help plan, implement and maintain better customer relationship
management program as it gives clarity to developing plans based on the customers’
relationship profile.
• A strong brand s essential to business success. it differentiates a company from its
competitors and give consumers a reason to choose its product or service.

Contrary to popular belief, a brand is much more then just a logo. A brand reflects what the
business is about and should do so consistently across all media. That’why it’s important to have
a set of identify guidelines to set the look and feel of the material. These guidelines communicate
company’s business message and image. Create customer experiences, and create emotional

34
feelings about the company. By working on brand design, company is able to get a strong brand
image that is unique to it and creates a foundation for sales and marketing of its offerings.

2.3 Objective

Objective of that study are as follows:

• To have a complete understanding of the topic under study
• To study the various dimension affecting the topic under study
• To tap all topic related with the main topic whether directly or indirectly.
• To make sure that all recent trends related to the topic are covered.
• To ensure that there remains no contradiction as to the matter used for the report and the
actual purpose of study.
• To find out the impact of Branding on life insurance product.
• To find out the level of market knowledge to customer regarding Branding.
• To find out that which performance indicator is observed by the people more before
making an investment decision.
• To find out that how important disclosure of marketing information is, from the point for
view of the police holders.
• To find out that which medium of communication serves the best according to the
respondent’s point of view for communicating market related information to the
prospective and final customers.
• To find out a future impact of branding on the insurance service.
• To find out that what the respondents think about the strategies adopted by ICICI
PRUDENTIAL LIC.

35
• To find out that what the respondents think about the companies who give out more
market related information fn contrast to their competitors.
• To find out how many of the total respondents surveyed were conversant with Brands
existing in life insurance industry.

2.4 Scope of the Study

Branding has a very wide Scope. It is basically Top-level Management Decision. In the
absence of other distinguishing factors, branding is what pushes a consumer to purchase a
particular product. When you are picking an insurance company, whether for your family or
your business, you ‘re more likely to write out your premium che3cks to the provider who’s
earned your trust or whom you believe is trustworthy. That is the power of the corporate
brand.
Branding equals trust. Consumer whether for business or personal products select brand
they believe will serve them best, even if that brand is priced at a premium. Look at American
express: its basic Personal card is far more expensive then bankcards. Yet American express
has created a culture of service that provides so much perceived brand value that many
consumers are willing to pay more for the “Privilege” of using the American express card.
In addition, the success of the Personal card allow American Express to continue to
create new brand extension, gold, platinum, blue, and black among others that already have
an advantage in the mind of consumers. Before they are launched, because they carry the
imprimatur of the American Express brand.

Sometimes brand value is the result of superior engineering, taste, or other distinguishing
factor. But attributes like these are never enough: Your competition can eventually offer
something just as good. Think about the “Soup wars” between Campbell’s and progression a
clash between two essentially similar products, each company has two choices. They can

36
discount their prices, lowering sales revenue and creating a potential financial problem or
they can strengthen the brand, so that when customers choose a soup; they are choosing food
that will make them feel good, from a brand they can feel good about.

A strong brand drives audience’s experiences in an intentional and consistent way. A strong
brand continues strengthening itself, with proper management, by creating a renewable
resource of loyal shareholders, customer, and employees. When the pieces fall into place,
everything works better for everyone and the brand returns increasing levels of value.

2.5 Methodology

Methodology:

The aim at this stage s to build a framework for evaluation and revaluation of primary
and secondary research. Various techniques and concept have been used from time to
time to arrive at the findings; to derive logical conclusion towards analysis of results

Research Design

In the initial stage secondary research is conducted to have the full understanding of
the concept. Two kinds of data collection were carried on which are discussed as
follows: -

PRIMARY DATA

New data gathered to help solve problem at hand as compared to secondary data,
which is previously gathered, an example is information gathered by a questionnaire.
Qualitative and quantitative data that are newly collected in the course of research
consists of original information that comes from people and includes information

37
gathered from survey, focus group, and independent observation and test results. The
data is gathered by the researchers in the act of conducting research. This is in contrast
to secondary data, which entails the use of data gathered by someone other then the
researcher.
Getting the questionnaires filled by the respondents in the case of my research
basically collects primary data.

SECONDARY DATA
Data that already exists somewhere, having been collected for some other purpose.
The sources generally include trade publication, and subscription service. Data that
has already been collected and published in another research report. There are two
types of secondary data internal and external secondary data. Information compiled
inside or outside the organization for some purpose other then current investigation. It
is researching information, which has already been published. Market information
collected for the purpose other then current research effort, it can be internal data such
as existing sales tracking information, or it can be research conducted by someone
else, such as a market research company.
Secondary source of data used consists of books and websites a list of which is given
in annexure to the report.

Research approach: -
There are 2 basic types of approaches to research. They are,

1. Quantitative Approach
2.Qualitative Approach

38
 Quantitative Approach involves the generation of data, which can be subjected to
rigorous quantitative analysis in formal and rigid fashion.ths approach can be further
sub classified into inferential, experimental and simulation approaches to research.
The purpose of inferential approach to research is to form a database to inter
characteristics or relationship of population.

Qualitative Approach to research is concerned with subjective assessment of

attitudes, opinions and behavior; research in such a situation is a function of
researcher’s insight and impressions.
In this research a mix of qualitative as well as quantitative approach was adopted the
desired results.

Research Instrument:

The various research instruments at the hands of the research are as follow:-

1) Observations: under this information is sought by way of investigators, own

direct observation without asking the respondents.
2) Interview: it involves presentation, oral verbal, stimuli and reply in terms of
oral verbal response. This method can be used through personal interviews
and f possible, through telephone interviews.
3) Questionnaires: it consists of number of question printed or typed in a definite
order on a form or a set of forms; the respondents have to answer the questions
themselves.

For the purpose of our survey all the instruments were used in a balanced way,
wherever one approach was more suitable that instrument was used there.

39
Types of questionnaires: -

Questionnaires can be of 2 types.

• Structured: It is one in which all question and answers are specified and
comments in the respondents own words are held to the minimum.
• Unstructured: it s one in which the answers to the question can be framed
in the respondents own words.
The questionnaire used was of an unstructured from for the purpose of our
study.

Types of questions: -
Open Ended and Closed Ended
The questions formulated in each questionnaire were such as to maintain
uniform replies from the customers.

Sample Plan

A sample plan is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given

population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would
adopt in selecting item for the sample. it includes the following.

Sample unit: -
Customers, financial agents and potential investors.

Sample size:
This refers to the number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute
a sample.

40
 For the purpose of research the sample size used was 50

Sampling procedure

There are 2 main sampling procedures.

1 Probability Sampling

2 Non probability Sampling

Non –Probability sampling is that sampling procedure which does not afford any basis for
estimating the probability that each item in the population has of being included in the sample

Probability sampling is one in which every item of the universe has an equal
chance of inclusion in the sample. It further divided into random sampling and
non random sampling
Random Sampling from a finite population refers to that method of sample
section, which gives each possible sample combination an equal probability of
being picked up and each item in the entire population to have an equal chance
of being included in the sample.
The sampling procedure followed was Non probability Random sampling.

Sample Size

75 respondents

41
Chapter-3 Conceptual Discussion.

BCG Matrix Analysis

42
 Chapter-3
Conceptual Discussion

Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image that you associate
With a company or a product. When you think Nike, you might think of Michael Jordan
Or “Just Do It”. When you think IBM, you might “Big blue”. The fact that you remember
the brand name and have positive association with that brand makes your product
Selection easier and enhances the value and satisfaction you get from the product.

Before going any further, however, we should set the record straight on what a brand is, and is
not only then can you go about the process of branding your company and your product. First,
your brand is not just your logo. Tagline. Packaging or the “look and feel” of your add and your
website. These are all graphical parts of your brand identity and are often narrowly. And
incorrectly, referred to as “ branding”. Here is a much broader definition shared by many in the
brand management community: your brand resides within the hearts (feeling) and minds
(intellect) of your customer and prospects. It is the sum total of their (product, company, and

43
competitive) experience and perception, some of which you can influence, and some you cannot.
Successful brand managers recognize that they must understand the needs and wants of
customers and prospects. They strive to convey that they meet these needs and wants in a
differentiating way that is motivating to prospects. They accomplish this by initiating integrated
strategies throughout the company at every point of public contact marketing communications,
customer support and sales. The value of a brand is not something that one can easily change.
Although it is not a part of the marketing mix, but an effect of it, the subject has nevertheless
been included as branding play an essential role in the communication process, denoting the
identity of the product or service.

While branding can almost make or break a product to its role. The customer buys a product, not
a brand. The physical purchasing action is caused by a decision to acquire a product: the brand is
there to serve as a means of identifying the manufacturer. The value of the brand will reflect on
the product. But one must not forget that it is the product that is bought.

The brand imagery can reinforce product value and often does so quite significantly and turn
people into customers as well as enhance product satisfaction. The customer’ objective, however
is to buy a product and the quality experience of that product is what will persuade them to make
or not make a second purchase. The product reflects on the brand as much as the brand reflects on
the product.

The expression that the customer buys a brand’ is not only logically wrong. But also conceptually
wrong and can lead marketers to believe that product quality is less important, assuming that
creating the right kind of imagery will overcome potential deficits in tangible product value.

Service like Life Insurance differs from physical goods as they emphasis experience qualities,
which can only be discerned after purchase or during consumption. Service o0fering are
becoming an integral part of today business and in the process of differentiating one offering
effectively in the eyes of the consumer, branding service have started playing an important role.
Building a strategic relationship with the customer is very essential. To develop service brands.
Choose appropriate brand architecture, position the brand, develop the programs needed to

44
deliver the brand and align the business system to the brand promise. In today’s world of
immense competition, similar or near similar products are being offered to the consumer by
various insurance company, whether for your family or your business, you are more likely to
write out your premium check to the provider who’s earned your trust or whom you believe is
trustworthy. That is the power of the corporate brand.

Branding equals trust. Consumers whether for business or personal products select brands they
believe will serve them best, even if that brand is priced at a premium.
Sometimes brand value is the result of superior engineering, taste, or other distinguishing factor.
But attributes like theses are never enough: your competition can eventually offer sometime just
as good. In a clash between two essentially similar products, each company has two choices.
They can discount their price, lowering sale revenue and creating a potential financial problem…
or they can strengthen the brand. So that when customers choose a product, they are choosing a
product that will make them fell good from a brand they can feel good about

A strong brand drives audiences’ experiences in an intentional and consistent way. A strong
brand continues strengthening itself, with proper management, by creating a renewable resource
of loyal shareholders, customers, and employees. When the pieces fall into place, everything
works better for everyone and the brand returns increasing levels of value.

Most Banks and financial service firms begin branding exercise by hiring a branding or
marketing consultant to develop a compelling marketing message, distinctive logo, set of glossy
brochures, and deluxe web site. Financial service firms will spend hand-over –first to get the right
message out to the marketplace: the message they believe will help them increase their revenue
and client base. Once the branding campaign is launched, they consider the work well done and
complete. But most financial service firms start in the wrong place and leave the job half done
when it comes to branding. The reason why is simply; the most powerful branding, a firm can
undertake has little to do with marketing. The work the firm does every day with each Clint
engagement, meeting, and contact speaks more loudly and makes stronger brand impressions
than any marketing campaign. It is this internal brand the underlying strength of the culture of the

45
firm and how it consistently deals with clients- that should be the foundation of any marketing-
based branding campaign.

Internal Brand Consistency But how does an organization made up of intelligent and particular
and individuals foster a culture where staff members care about the consistency and success of
the firm as well as their own personal success? And how can a firm then ensure consistency of
service delivery, ethical behavior, and (often overlooked) firm “:personality”. Establishing a
common vision has been a popular concept for firm community building and direction setting.
Give people a shining principle to guide them and they will follow that star. Unfortunately, left
untended a vision can start to sound dogmatic and state. It’s also often difficult to translate the
ethereal ‘vision’ into what the staff is supposed to do every day to live up to it. This is especially
true for professional service firms such as accounting, banking, and investment house where
everybody has new opinions daily on just about everything. Value statements and credos can also
be helpful. But most value statements start to sound like one another, minimizing their impact.
Besides, if the values aren’t already deeply embedded within the company, and modeled by
senior management, the exercise usually ends up being …well…just another exercise.

The presented brand is the company’s controlled communication of its identity through
advertisement while the external brand communication refers to the information customers
absorb about the company that essentiality is uncontrolled by the company. These factors,
combined with customer’s experience, lead to increased brand awareness and brand meaning.
Brand meaning refer to the customers dominate perceptions of the brand and hence differs from
awareness. Both these factors put together lead to development of brand equity.

Branding of Life Insurance Product have a very sensitive aspect where the strategy revolves
around the customer. Building a strategic relationship with the customer is very essential. By
identifying the factors that can be leveraged in different service conditions to add value to the
consumer and thus differentiating one’s offerings effectively in the eyes of the consumer, and this
is where branding service become important. Some of the reasons that makes branding valuable
propositions for service are: strong brand increase customers’ trust of the invisible purchase.
Strong brand companies have high ‘mind share’ with targeted customers, which contributes to

46
market share. They enable customers to better visualize and understand intangible product. They
reduce customers perceived monetary, social and safety risks in buying services.

Step for building a service brand with appropriate senior management commitment, building a
relevant and powerful brand for any consumer-focused company, including a bank, is a
reasonable goal. There are six components that go into successfully branding a service sector
firm. These steps blueprint the process of developing a concise message or promise that an
institution wants to communicate to its customer, and for executing a strategy that delivers on
that promise. The above figure illustrates the process of building brands.

The first step in building a branded business to understand the role of the brand in that
particular business, including the leverage it can provide
Across markets and product categories. A brand can provide information and communicate
efficiently, qualify a product or service, or establish differentiation. A truly powerful brand can
do all three if necessary. To decide what role brands should play, it is important to take a
dispassionate look at the current status of the organization and product/service offering how they
are perceived by customer, competitors and employees. In addition, the institution has to
understand what these distinct constituencies need to know and believe about the brand. For
instance, in General Electric appliance business, the retail trade is most interested in product
quality, marketing support and access to credit. Consumers are interested in product quality, but
in addition seek a set of design attributes. GE’s brands thus play two roles

Secondly, brand builder must choose brand architecture consistent with chosen role and
the institution’s product, services and market landscape. There are three types of brand
architectures: the first is a singe brand –one brand that covers the entire product range, for
example Sony, home depot and visa. Then come tiered brands –with a parent brand supported by
sub-brands for each product line. Companies such as sears and Nabisco use a tiered brand
umbrella. The third architecture is multiple brands –with each product carrying its own brand
distinct from the parent. Procter & Gamble is a company that uses multiple brand architecture,

47
with each of its product –Tide, Pampers lvory soap--building and supporting its own brand
identity. Which brand architecture you choose depends on business objective and market
condition. The single brand architecture best applies when customer seek the same attributes
across market segments and product lines. The tiered brand architecture allows the institution to
build on critical foundation attributes while still tailoring the marketing message to specific
segments. Multiple brands are needed when each market segment has distinct needs.
The third step in branding a business and developing a bran strategy is to position the
brand to effectively communicate the value proposition.
Critical here are clarity, consistency and relevance. Volvo (safety), Nike (limitless performance)
and Wal-Mart (good deals) are example of companies that have clear brand position. The clarity
is achieved through the consistent use of all marketing levers (price, product design, image and
channel selection) to drive home a single message.

In the fourth step, a company must develop the programmers needed to deliver the brand
and the brand promise. This happens through programmers or service that convey the brand
message to the target audience. Nike’s support of grassroots athletic and visa’s Olympic
sponsorship illustrate the type of programmers needed to creatively deploy brands. Nike helps
amateur athletes while visa demonstrates its global reach

Essential for generating brand performance is the fifth step in effective branding: creating or
designing an organization to lead and manage a branded business, one that includes the right
skills and structure to execute the brand strategy. Citibank, for example, has recently recruited a
number of people with brand-building skills, including William Campbell, formerly the marketer
behind many of Philip Morris’ successes.

Finally, for a brand to be effective in the marketplace, the business system must be aligned
with the brand promise. It must start at the very top with a vision and strategy that is embraced
and articulated by senior management. Imagine Virgin Air without Richard Branson or Nike
without Phil Knight and the imporantance of leadership in establishing and driving a brand
becomes obvious.

48
 Future Strategy: Cross-selling: The idea here is to sell all kinds of financial service through
one common channel selling a demat account to a savings account customer or selling a credit
card or debit card to an exiting customer. Bundling of services with non-finance companies.

How ICICI bank is branding its service Philosophy:

‘Trademark customer experience differentiates a bank from competitors offering the same
product and service’ service levels must be better than the expectations that are built through
marketing and advertising, and then people will talk about your service. Touch customers in
many ways (insurance, banking, mortgage financing, retirement planning). And through various
channels (branch, online direct mail, telephone etc). Catch Young Customers. Target audience
must be youngsters in their twenties with whom it can establish a lifelong relationship. Tap into
its vast quantities of information about customer’ habits.

Brand-building exercise: Ran a campaign in the print media for educating the ordinary
investor; weekly investment articles were published in all major dailies. ‘Umbrella’ campaign:
Conveyed value of safety, security, and shield against calamities for investors (positioning the
brand so as to communicate the value proposition).

Used, Amitabh Bachchan, as their Ambassador.

Unified and new group identity for ICICI has been the focus of their branding strategy (singe
brand architecture)

49
 First financial service company to brand its bonds offering :ICICI safety Bonds. For promoting
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd, the theme was ‘cover every Indian with joy, hope,
freedom, life’. Further, they chose children from municipal school who received endowment
policies worth Rs.20, 000 each from the MD. Both, the safety Bond and the ICICI Prudential Life
Insurance were program’s, to deliver the brand promise.

M
BCG MATRIX TO STUDY THE GROWTH
A
R OF
K
ICICI PRUDENTIAL
E
T
G
R
STARS QUESTION MARKS
O
LIC
W
T
H
H
R
A
T
E
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 CASH COW DOGS
ICICI PRUDENTIAL

STARS- The stars include companies, which are market leader, or companies,
RELATIVE MARKET SHARE
which are in the process of becoming market leaders, in a High Growth Market

QUESTION MARKES- It includes company’s which basically operate in high

growth markets but have low markets share, specially new entrants

CASH COWS- Stars with a falling growth rate that still have the largest relative
market share and produce a lot of cash for the company. The company does not
have to finance expansion because the market’s growth rate has slowed

DOGS- Businesses that have weak market shares n low-growth markets.

ICICI PRUDENTIAL would definitely come under the category of Cash cow as
per BCG Matrix analysis.

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Chapter-4 Data Analysis

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 Chapter-4
Data Analysis
Objective: The Question was asked to find out the level of transparency in market
knowledge to ordinary investors.

Q.No.1 Do you think that companies in insurance sector currently provides adequate
information for investors on the following? (Yes/no)

Future market trends

The value of their

intangible assets
10% 5% 10% The value of their brands

5% 18% Marketing expenditure

Advertising expenditure

32% 12% Pricing strategy

8%
New product development
activity
Channel and distribution
strategy

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Interpretation: In the pie diagram given above, that percentage is shown which gave yes as
there answer.10% of the respondents feel that companies give adequate information on there
future market trends/strategies, likewise 18%for value of intangible Assets, 12%for brand
value,8%for Marketing Expenditure, 32%for advertising expenditure,5%for pricing
strategy,10%for NPD and 5%for channel &distribution strategies

Objective: The Question was asked to find out that which performance indicator is
observed by the respondents more before making an investment decision.

Q.NO.2 which performance measures do you consider before making an

investment decision?

Brand awareness

Sustainable price
10% 9% premium
35% Consumer/custo
7%
mer satisfaction
Market share
22% 17% (volume)
Market
share(value)
Market
share(growth)

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 Interpretation: In the pie diagram given above, the percentage tell us the impact of a
particular indicator on the overall investment decision of a respondent.35%respondents
take brand awareness as a measure before they invest in any particular company.
Likewise, 17%respondents considered sustainable price premium as a performance
indicator of a company. Customer satisfaction is rated by 22%respondents as a useful tool
in determining the performance level of the company

Objective: The Question was asked to find out that how important disclosure of
marketing information is from the point of the policyholders.

Q.No. 3
1 Companies should disclose all policies, related information clearly to
the Customers and make their brochures transparent?

19%

Agree
Disagree
53% Don't Know
28%

Interpretation: In the pie diagram given above, the percentage of people who agree, disagree
or don’t know on the subject concerned. From the above figure it can be easily depicted that
53%of the people are of the opinion that policy related information disclosed by the company is
good to know & they rate those companies higher than that of those companies which don’t
disclose much of the information. However 28%of the respondents do not agree to above
&19%of the respondents can’t say anything.

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 Objective: The Question was asked to find out that which medium of communication serves
the best for communicating market related information to the prospective and final customers.

Q.No. 4 If more detailed marketing information were to be disclosed

What would be the most appropriate medium?
20% 15%

15%

50%

Review of marketing performance

Advertisements on media
Analysis' presentation
On-line presentation

In the Pie Diagram given above, the percentage tells us the impact of a particular Medium on

the overall investment decision of a respondent. It can be seen from the figure that 50%of the

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 respondents feel that Advertisements on media is still the hot favorite, when it comes to

passing information to the final & prospective consumer. Review of marketing performance

& Analysis presentation stands together with 15%and online presentation gains 20%of

respondent’s choice.

Objective: This Question was asked to find out a future impact of Branding on the insurance

service. This futuristic view would help us to understand the customers view regarding the ICICI

PRUDENTIAL LIC brand as well some other brands that are in vogue these

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Q.No.5 Which among the following points do you, agree the

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 7%

35% 46%

12% more important in the

Branding will become
next 5 years
Old brand will be bitten up by new internet
brands
Marketing costs to create new internet
brands will show upward trend
Brands are becoming more impotant in
mreger & acquisition activity

Interpretation: important finding to note here is that 46%of the people think that Branding

will gain more relevance in the coming years to come as in the near future there would be an

upsurge in the insurance industry which would be characterized by fierce and intense

competition, where brand building and cashing on of established and famous brand would be

quite evident. However 12% feel that old brand will be replaced by new internet brands.35%feel

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that marketing cost for promoting new internet brands will swell.7%feel that in the near future

branding will play a merger and acquisition activities as well

Objective: This question was asked to find out that what the respondents think about the

strategies adopted by ICICI PRU LIC. Are these strategies enough transparent or not.

Q.No.6 For ICICI PRU LIC, which among the following do you like the most?

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 28% 26%

19%
24% 3%

Takes a long term view of marketing investment

Has a strong and successful product brands

Has an impressive e-commerce/internet strategy

Provides sufficient information on its marketing performance

and plans
Has a strong and successful corporate brands

Interpretation: 26% of the respondents feel that the company takes a long-term view of

its marketing investments in best interest of its investors.28% are of the opinion that the

company has a strong corporate brand,19% however feel that its product brand are better than

the other in field.24% of the respondents were also of the opinion that the company provides

sufficient information to investors on its marketing performance and plans From the figure it

can also be noted that ICICI PRU LIC need to work in its internet and e-commerce based

application as only 3% like it’s internet and e-commerce strategies. Either it is not fully

developed or the company is lagging behind in promotion of its e-commerce and internet

strategy.

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Objective: This Question was asked to find out that what the respondents think about the

companies who give out more market related information in contrast to their competitors.

Q.No. 7 Companies that consistently disclose more marketing related information tend

to outperform their competitors

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 20%

55%
25%

Agree Disagree Don't Know

Interpretation: From the figure it can be deduced that a major portion 55%of the respondents

surveyed were of the opinion that the companies who disclose more information tend to make a

favorable image among the masses, 25% however disagree and the other 20% can’t say much

about the question asked. But this must also be seen that only relevant information should reach

them and vague or strategic information should be kept out of the reach of the common people.

Objective: This Question was asked to find out how many of the total respondents surveyed

were conversant with brands existing in Life insurance industry.

Q.No.8 Percentage of people familiar brands prevalent in Life insurance industry

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 40 100
60
45
8 95

55
43 65
26 23 42
10
9
LIC ICICI Prudential
HDFC Standard Life Max Newyork
Birla Sunlife Kotak Lfe Insurance
ING Vyasya Reliance Life
Aviva Bajaj Allianz
Metlife Sahara
SBI Life TATA AIG

Interpretation: Some very interesting conclusion came out of this study of ours. This can be

seen from the figure that LIC has a strong brand presence with almost 100% respondents

knowing about the company. Likewise 95% for ICICI PRUDENTIAL brand name, 65% for

HDFC.42% of the choice goes in favour of Max Newyork and so faith. This is all because of the

powerful brand that LIC commands from last many years. From the survey it was concluded that

most of the respondents were a little cautious towards diverting their money. As they do not have

full confidence level on the private Life insurance companies. But now the situation is chaining a

lot and slowly but steadily the reputation of private insurance companies is improving.

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Objective: Above Question was asked to find out how many of the total respondents surveyed

think that Branding play a role in the sale of a product as well.

Q.No.9 How do you think Branding as a concept affects the sale of a product?

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 15%
6%

79%

Positively Negatively Neutral

Interpretation: it can be seen from the figure that around 79% of respondent believe that

Branding has a positive impact on the sale of a product, 6% feel that it has a negative impact &

3% are not having any clue regarding the answer for this question and preferred to stay neutral.

Objective: Above Question was asked to find out that what percentage of the total sales
made by a company is made because of Brand name of the product.

Q.No. 10 What amount of Sale, Branding contributes in the total sales made for the
product?

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 4% 12%

22%
62%

1) 10 to 20% 2) 20 to 30%
3) 30 to 40 % 4) above 40%

Interpretation: We can seen from the results that 62% of the respondents feel that it
has an impact more then 40% in sales. 22% believe that the impact is between 30% to
40% while 12% feel it is between 20% to 30%. Only 4% feel that it has a low impact
below 20%. So from these figures we can very well imagine the power of branding

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 Chapter-5 Findings and Recommendations.

Chapter-5 Finding & Recommendations:

Findings
o Branding is more relevant in the financial service market, which not only faces
the problem of securing and retaining customers in an increasingly competitive

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 marketplace but also experience the need for heightened relevance of the brand
proposition in a world where brand has been termed the new religion.
o Focus and strategy are essential to the development of brand in any sector but
the less tangible world of financial products historically has escaped the
branding issues that have governed development and culture in other
industries. If there was one industry which least considered branding as an
essentiality it would be the insurance industry. It was always fell as an abstract
service or a fallback, more like a safety net. But it is more often than not sold
through intermediaries who have already done the task of sifting through
competitive product to select the most appropriate one.

o But with liberalization of the industry, players have to realize the need for
branding in a competitive environment. Insurance companies need to strive for
greater customer focus regardless of whether the customer is the end user or
the intermediary.

o The global insurance industry itself is witnessing a period of consolidation and

companies are thinking about how brand equity can work to their advantage.
With the Internet redefining the way business is done, the cyberspace, clear
corporate branding is even more vital in the absence of physical presence and
issues of trust and reliability are more imperative.

o Till date LIC has been successful in creating brand. In rural India, the LIC is
especially synonymous with insurance. But in the wake of competition it has
to do considerable brand building exercise at least in urban India.

o Adequate time, investment and longer-term management of the brand are

essential, not only for success but also survival. All brands need to be built
around well-differentiated and credible positioning that springs from the
organization’s history. The brand must not only be believed but also lived by
management and employees.

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 o An additional factor is the strong sales orientation that defines the way
insurance companies operate. More often nit the industry fails to be marketing-
driven. Equally, lack of direct contact with the end user compounds targeting
difficulties, which leads cyclically back to the question of whether the brand
should be focused at the intermediary or customer.

A DOZEN BENEFIT OF A STRONG CORPORATE BRAND

1. Leads to better business results: sales, earnings, and cash flow

2. Leads to better financial performance, for example, stock price, and price to earnings
(P/E) ratio

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3. Can command a premium price
4. Creates customer loyalty
5. Makes marketing more efficient
6. Creates differentiation between competitors
7. Makes it easier to recruit and retain talent
8. Can withstand and weather crises more readily
9. Slows or stops share erosion
10. Helps minimize company turf battles, since everyone is working on common goals
11. Appeals to financial and investor markets
12. Helps shape the complex decision of regulators

Recommendation

 As per data Complied by IRDA and published in economic times market share of
companies in business of Life insurance is as follow:

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 o LIC-78%
o ICICI Prudential-5.5%
o HDFC Standard Life –2.5%
o Bajaj Allianz-2.3%
o TATA AIG-2.1%
o Birla-1.5%
o Max Newyork-1.04%
o Others-Less than 1%
ICICI Pru must strive to improve its market share by following aggressive marketing
strategies and coming up with new and innovative products to suit the changing protection and
investment needs of the prospective customers this can be done through conducting marketing
research activities on a persistent and continuous basis.

 Launch innovative product like separate policy for Woman considering the currant market
situation where an increasing number of woman are moving to secure their future and
reap the benefits of life insurance. Life insurance for woman was an untapped market till
a few years back. But lately it has shown a significant rise. LIC, Birla sun life, and Kotak
Mahindra have already introduced such policies till now.
 ICICI Pru may also tap the rural poor, which is also such a sector where the penetration of
Life insurance is still poor, it can be made possible by launching Micro Insurance
Policies, where the sum insured and premiums can be set at low levels to make them
affordable, specifically designed for such a niche.
 ICICI Pru must also improve its Brand Awareness through she3lling out more
expenditure on advertisements and other promotional tools. It must tap new markets and
expand to even the remotest of areas.
 Brand Loyalty also needs to be improved by strengthening the Customer Relationship
Model (CRM), Keeping a wide network of financial consultants and providing them with
adequate training and support so that the customers can be satisfied to the fullest and
thereby making new customers and pushing the existing ones for repurchase.

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Questionnaire

Name:

Contact Info:

Occupation:

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Q: 1 Do You think that companies in Insurance sector currently provide adequate
information for investors on the following: Yes No

• Future market trends.

• The value of their intangible assets
• The value of their brands.
• Marketing expenditure
• Advertising expenditure
• Pricing strategy
• New product development activity
• Channel and distribution strategy

Q: 2 Which performance measures do you consider before making an investment

decision?
• Brand awareness
• Sustainable price premium
• Consumer satisfaction
• Market share (volume)
• Market share (value)
• Market share (growth)

Q: 3 Companies should disclose all policies, related information clearly to the customers
and make their brochures transparent (pls.tick)
Agree Disagree Don’t know

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Q: 4 If more detailed marketing information were to be disclosed. What would be the
most appropriate medium?
• Review of marketing performance
• Advertisements on media
• On line presentation
• Analysis presentation

Q: 5 which among the following points do you agree the most?

• Branding will become more important in the next 5 years
• Old brands will be bitten up by new Internet brands.
• Marketing costs to create new Internet brands will become in supportable
• Brands are becoming more important in merger & acquisition activity

Q: 6 For ICICI PRUDENTIL – LIFE TIME SUPER which among the following do you
like the most?
(a) It takes a long term view of marketing investment
(b) Has a strong and successful corporate brand
(c) Has strong and successful product brands
(d) Has an impressive e-commerce/internet strategy
(e) Provides sufficient performance and plans

Q: 7 Companies that consistently disclose more marketing related information tend to

out perform their competitors (Tick one)

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 Agree Disagree Don’t know

Q: 8 Which of the following companies “Brand Name” are you familiar with?
(Pls.Tick)

Familiar Not Familiar

1 LIC
2 ICICI PRUDENTIAL
3 HDFC STANDARD LIFE
4 MAX NEWYORK
5 BIRLA SUNLIFE
6 KOTAK LIFE INSURANCE
7 ING VYASYA
8 RELIANCE LIFE
9 AVIVA

Q: 9 How do you think Branding as a concept affects the sale of a product? (Tick one)

1 Positively 2 Negatively 3 Neutral

Q: 10 What amount of sales, Branding may contribute in the total sale made for the
product (Tick one)

1 10-20% 2 20-30%
3 30-40% 4 above 40%

Bibliography:

1. Gregory James r., “The Best of Branding: Best Practices In Corporate Branding”

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2. Bajpai G.N., Navare Jyoti, “Strating for Success: Marketing of Insurances”
3. Internet Sites Referred:
• http://www.insweb.com/lifetk/lifeglossary1.htm
• http://www.alldigins.com/lifeglos.html
• http://www.acbonline.org/gloss-life.htm
• http://www.metlife.com/products/life/docs/glossary.htm
• http://life.inweb.yahoo.com/lifehealth/ref/lh-default.htm
• www.iciciprulife.com

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