Situation: The day-to-day life of our soldiers is challenging. Yet, it never defeats their spirit of protection and undying love for the country. HDFC Life wanted to showcase the armed forces to encourage the average person to take up the responsibility of protecting the lives of their loved ones.

Brief: The main idea behind the campaign was to make viewers prioritize protection above everything. Our armed forces put their duty above everything while protecting us from external dangers. Meanwhile, the common man, in many ways does something similar; he protects his family with his whole might, not only from the present but also from future threats.

Objective: The objective of the campaign was to reach a large audience online, and increase awareness of our term insurance product, by associating it at an emotional level with the concept of protecting loved ones.

The idea involved creating a powerful piece of content that showcases the discipline, dedication, and struggles of the armed forces and the functioning of the Indian army. Visuals of their practice, skills, planning, teamwork, and equipment were used to portray the message. The shot of a soldier falling, but immediately getting up and rushing into battle showcased determination and the spirit of not giving up. The Indian Army is known for three factors - steadfast discipline, planning for all eventualities, and determination, all of which are values every individual should hold in life, especially with finances.

The video was shot on location at an army base, with 300+ jawans, heavy artillery (including big guns and missiles) and additional resources. This was made possible due to the inputs and support of the ADGPI.

An original song (written and composed for the video) was used to drive home the message.

The aim was to make the audience prioritize “protection” above everything else. Therefore, we used the route of emotional storytelling to associate the concept with the brand. We wanted to showcase the difficult life of army men and at the same time draw analogies between the life and responsibilities of the Indian Army man and the common man.

The target audience included the common man who protects his family. The campaign was catered to India.

YouTube was chosen as the primary channel, followed by Facebook, Instagram. Since it was a brand film, brand awareness was the main objective and hence respective social platforms were considered to garner maximum audience.

The campaign was launched around Republic Day (26th January), with the intention to capture the audience’s interest with relevant messaging that talks about the nation and its protectors. Teaser posts were put up over social media channels (beginning on 15th of January – Army Day) to build up towards the launch of the video on Youtube.

During launch, relevant channel art was uploaded on the Youtube channel and a custom designed thumbnail was used to drive higher CTRs. Paid campaigns were set up to enable the brand to reach maximum amount of relevant audiences with the video.

The video has achieved 14M+ views on YouTube. The average view time of 1:54, which is more than 67% of the video duration, indicates the strength of the content in retaining viewers. Majority of the viewers consisted of the target age and gender demographic (66% aged 25-45, and 78% aged male).

The video became a widely shared piece of content even outside the YouTube ecosystem. The campaign hashtag #HameshaRakshaKareAapki trended on Twitter for 4+ hours, with users sharing the YouTube link. The video was embedded and featured on write-ups by major news platforms (Financial Express, News18, and Hindustan Times).