Prudential gets 'real' in PRUlady campaign

Prudential's PRUlady offers women protection against illnesses such as breast, cervical and ovarian cancer, and coincides with the launch of PRUlady Plus, which offers coverage for pregnancy complication and infant congenital illness. Currently, half of Prudential's policyholders are women, accounting for 350,000 customers. However, the local female market remains largely untapped. While Malaysia has an insurance penetration of 37 per cent, only 19 per cent of women have some form of insurance coverage. "The marketing potential (to women) is that while half of the population is female, only 19 per cent has life insurance, which is why Prudential is bringing out products specifically for women," said Abhishek Bhatia, director, marketing, brand and communication, Prudential Assurance Malaysia. "In terms of racial segments, 37 per cent of Chinese, 10 per cent of Malay and 24 per cent of Indian have life insurance which is quite low. Compound this with the fact that women have illnesses unique to them." Bhatia noted that Prudential worked with research company What If to develop the creative strategy for the PRUlady breast cancer campaign. What If focus groups with Prudential customers and prospects revealed women responded to advertising rooted in reality. "Women go through a kind of emotional trauma and we had to address that in the ads, and most financial and insurance ads (targeting) women are generic," he added. One execution features a woman at a swimming pool, with the tagline 'I lost my breast to cancer. Then I rebuilt my life'. Another shows a woman applying makeup. "We are hinting at things a woman might avoid after breast cancer, such as a swimming pool and going out, because she lacks confidence," explained Bhatia. Precious Thinking developed the campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of financial protection against female-related cancers, with MindShare handling media. The media strategy includes magazines and free-to-air television channel talk shows to reach Malay women, and newspapers and magazines targeting Chinese women. An out-of-home push will also see ads and pamphlets placed in female restrooms, near beauty salons and in shopping malls.