By Malay Desai
By: JWT Mumbai
The latest in an investor education series by Birla’s mutual fund brand is a song that attempts to bust common myths regarding the investment option. Shot in an office environment, it introduces a character called the ‘Mutual Fund Man’ who interacts with his hesitant colleague. The hero-like character responds to his concerns such as risks involved, requirement of watching over one’s investment, beginning at the right time and more. The over two-minute song ends with the Mutual Fund man saying ‘Jaanoge tabhi toh Maanoge’, also a site dedicated to the awareness initiative.
Do we like?
Mutual fund investment ads are subject to market boredom, but please give them a chance online before judging. One of the biggest challenges of personal finance products is to break down the wall of ignorance that many urban Indians live with, choosing to trust their opinion leaders, generalising and worse, feeling safe in their half knowledge. The first attempt in recent history toward breaking down this wall was in 2009 by Religare Insurance with Irrfan Khan, whose matter-of-fact tone landed him more ad films. Vinay Pathak’s ‘Subbu’ did something similar for Kotak later, and now, one rather unknown ‘Mutual Fund Man’ is telling you how little you know.
He isn’t the hero of the film though, it’s the song. The mutual fund house has invested well to produce an energetic track for a medium its target audience spends most time on, the internet.
Picking up the top FAQs any ignorant investor (or non-investor, in this case) would have, the lyrics are the core of this film, creating a to-and-fro conversation between the Mutual Fund Man and his colleague. From ‘What if the markets crash?’ to ‘I don’t save enough money’, the noninvestor’s fears are tackled in a funny manner, the MF Man replying to each with a rhetorical question.
His words could be condescending if you read them, but the song makes him that friendly school teacher whose scolding you don’t mind listening to. The lyrics are rappy and the music not exactly peppy, but the chatty tone of the film makes it worth a watch (yeah, skip that ‘Cute twins dancing to dad’s song’ sort of YouTube video once for this).Also, the campaign’s Facebook page has been cleverly supporting the ‘know to believe’ bottomline.
The best part about Birla’s web film is that neither Birla nor its mutual fund brand are really visible through it. The onus remains on investor education and to drive the viewer toward its portal, which is a dummies guide to mutual fund investments.
Like Irrfan Khan would say, “Yeh sab batayega apko, sab sab sab… sab!”
To watch this film, feed this easylink into your browser: Vimeo.com/84668725
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