Birla Sun Life announces cricketers as brand ambassadors

Leading cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma are the new brand ambassadors for Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI), a part of the Aditya Birla group.

JWT Mumbai, the creative agency of BSLI, came up with the insight Jab tak balla chalta hai, Thaat chalte hai. Warna... (Till the bat rules, you rule. Else...). The communication will comprise three commercials, with four leading cricketers as the protagonists. The fourth TV commercial will feature the four together.

The television commercial has been created around the common behaviour of most individuals who during their peak earning years, tend to overlook the need to save actively and build wealth to tide over the ups and downs in life.

The concept was created by Pradyumna Chauhan, senior creative director, JWT Mumbai.

With about Rs 100 crore slotted as its marketing budget, BSLI is looking at substantial advertising for its wealth protection solutions. All insurance players combined spent about Rs 1000 crore on advertising in 2008.

Birla Sun Life Insurance ranks among the top five private insurers in the country and is the latest in the list of insurers using cricketers/sportsmen as brand ambassadors. Others who have roped such cricketers include Aviva Life Insurance (Sachin Tendulkar), Max New York Life (Rahul Dravid), while Bajaj Allianz brought on board Olympic bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh.