Background
India has one of the lowest insurance penetrations globally. Despite rising medical costs and financial uncertainty, many individuals either postpone buying insurance or rely on fragile back-up plans, borrowing from relatives, selling assets, or depending on luck.
PolicyBazaar, India’s largest insurance marketplace, wanted not just to sell insurance, but to spark a national conversation around the absurdity of not being insured.
Challenge
- Category apathy: Consumers considered insurance an avoidable expense.
- Low urgency: Many thought “something else will take care of it.”
- Behavioural inertia: Excuses for not buying insurance had become normalised and even passed on proudly.
Objectives
- Disrupt complacency with a provocative cultural intervention.
- Drive conversations around the foolishness of not having insurance.
- Position PolicyBazaar as the voice of common sense in an irrational market.
Strategy & Insight
Insight: People often stick to flimsy backup plans, such as “We’ll borrow money if needed,” “We’ll sell jewellery,” or “The kids will manage.” Deep down, they know these plans are unreliable.
Strategy: Satirise this behaviour by declaring a spoof holiday #NoInsuranceDay, celebrating the “ullu” (foolishness) of not being insured. By holding up a mirror to irrational excuses, PolicyBazaar could provoke both laughter and self-reflection.
Creative Idea
Aaj hai No Insurance Day - Mat Bano Ullu.
A cause-led parody that created India’s first anti-celebration, exposing the absurd excuses people give for avoiding insurance.
Execution
Films / Scripts
- Characters shared laughably bad reasons for not buying insurance (e.g., “Hospital bills? We’ll sell jewellery”).
- A witty kid called them out as “ullu” (fools) and offered the smarter alternative. insurance starting at ₹400/month on PolicyBazaar.
Digital & Social
PB - #NoInsuranceDay - Surround…
- Bumper ads and parody “offers” for No Insurance Day (e.g., “Buy stress-free with no insurance!”).
- Influencer collabs, vox pops, parody tweets tagging other insurance companies.
- Static posts featuring characters with their bizarre reasons, debunked by the kid.
- Hashtag #ApkaBahana collected audience excuses and re-shared the funniest.
Radio & Print
- National print ad announcing “Today is No Insurance Day.”
- Radio parody show “Aaj Ka Ullu” invited listeners to share excuses, with the RJ satirising them through songs and commentary.
Results & Impact
- Became a national conversation starter, audiences shared their own #ApkaBahana reasons.
- Significant spike in category conversations on social media.
- PolicyBazaar brand salience lifted sharply as the common-sense voice of insurance.
- Helped drive double-digit growth in insurance inquiries during the campaign period (internal metrics).