IAC-Life targets the 28% who reject life insurance
The new Sabse Pehle Life Insurance films, directed by Shoojit Sircar, address claim doubts and return concerns among India's 28% category rejectors.
The Insurance Awareness Committee (IAC-Life) has moved its ‘Sabse Pehle Life Insurance’ campaign into a sharper, harder phase. The first burst built emotional awareness around the dreams life insurance protects. The next one is aimed squarely at consumers who know the category and still say no.
01 · From awareness to objection handling
Directed by Shoojit Sircar, the new films use relatable, everyday situations to address the specific hesitations that keep people out of the category. Hindi-language films feature Vikrant Massey and Shweta Tripathi, while Kalidas Jayaram and Aishwarya Rajesh front the South Indian adaptations. By pairing recognisable talent with regional storytelling, IAC-Life is treating India as many markets, not one.
02 · The 28% ‘rejectors’ at the centre
According to the campaign’s audience assessment, 28% of Indian consumers fall into the ‘rejectors’ group—aware of life insurance but reluctant to consider it. Their concerns are specific:
- doubt about whether insurers will actually honour claims
- a perception that term insurance gives little or no return
- uncertainty about building income through long-term savings plans
03 · What phase one moved
The strategy is grounded in measurement. A post-campaign evaluation by Kantar in July 2026 showed top-of-mind awareness rose from 57% to 66%, spontaneous awareness from 85% to 94%, and purchase intent from 49% to 56%. The gap between awareness and intent is the brief. For CMOs, this is a useful reminder: a brand can become famous without becoming chosen, because the barriers change at each stage of the funnel.
04 · A rural-first, language-first media plan
The campaign is putting real money behind this consideration shift. Rural media investment has increased to 30%, up from 23% the previous year. The plan spans television, connected TV, digital and social, OTT, outdoor, cinema and retail media. Hindi is joined by ten regional languages—Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Odia and Assamese. Rural outreach includes digital wall paintings and other outdoor work across 425 towns, while influencer-led content answers consumer queries in accessible formats.
“Building awareness of life insurance is only the first step.”
Kamlesh Rao, Chairperson, IAC-Life, framed the shift as a move from awareness to meaningful engagement. The two-burst rollout runs from late October to mid-December 2026, then returns between January and March 2027—using the festive period’s associations with family and future planning before sustaining the conversation into the new year.
05 · The marketing take
Most category campaigns chase the already persuadable. IAC-Life’s more difficult brief is to name the objection, localise the answer, and measure whether consideration moves—not just recall. That is a template financial services marketers in India will be watching closely.
Source: MediaNews4U
