Our ad spends have grown 300–400% in three years: Amaresh Jena, Pramerica Life Insurance

As life insurance steadily shifts from a transactional product to a trust-driven relationship, marketers in the sector are rethinking how to balance purpose with performance. For Pramerica Life Insurance, that means moving beyond mass distribution to affinity-based networks, deepening presence in under-served towns, and building awareness through authentic storytelling rather than high-decibel advertising. 

Chief Marketing Officer Amaresh Jena has been steering this evolution: from reimagining the media mix and experimenting with influencer-led content, to aligning campaigns with life-stage milestones and ensuring measurable business impact. In this candid conversation with exchange4media, Jena discusses how Pramerica is shaping trust, relevance, and growth in an industry defined by long-term commitment.

Edited Excerpts 

Pramerica Life Insurance operates in a crowded insurance market. How are you positioning the brand to stand out among established players?

I wouldn’t describe insurance as a crowded space. In fact, the Government of India has launched several initiatives, including “Insurance for All by 2047,” which reflects how much potential the sector holds. Penetration has largely been limited, apart from LIC, and traditionally concentrated in the top 20 cities based on premium-paying capacity. The opportunity lies in tier 3 and tier 4 towns, which are still under-served.

For us, the strategy has been about affinity-based groups rather than mass distribution. Thanks to our shareholders, including Prudential, we’ve adopted a knowledge-sharing approach that helps us target such groups. The Indian Armed Forces have long been our largest retail channel, along with brokers and corporate agents who operate in very defined markets.

Instead of building an excessively wide distribution network, we focus on deep engagement: understanding customer needs, designing relevant products, and creating the right distribution channels. For instance, the Armed Forces give us presence across the country, and over the years, the successes we’ve had with this model are now being applied to other key channels, like corporate agents and brokers, as well as newer digital and non-digital channels.

Insurance penetration in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns is still evolving. How is Pramerica building awareness and trust in these markets?

Trust in life insurance operates on three levels: customers, distributors, and employees.

For customers, we align with life stage milestones - purchasing a policy, understanding the product, making claims, or receiving survival/income benefits. Many people think of life insurance only as protection in case of an unforeseen event, but we also offer income-generation products. For defence personnel, income plans are in demand - pay for a set period, then receive monthly income. Trust is built through smooth onboarding, clear communication, and timely payouts.

Our Pratigya Kavach initiative, which is a 100% claim guarantee for the Armed Forces is a testament to this commitment. In some cases, we’ve settled claims within 36 hours.

For distributors, we invest heavily in training and brand education so they can clearly explain products and connect meaningfully with customers.

For employees, the pride of covering one out of six Indian soldiers is deeply motivating. We reinforce this sense of purpose through town halls, leadership interactions, and internal storytelling, all of which translate into authentic communication externally.

Overall, our brand narrative is built on real stories and proven services rather than flowery advertising. This inside-out consistency strengthens credibility.

How have your advertising spends evolved over the last couple of years?

Strategically, until around 2021 our spends were more activation-led, focusing on on-ground events and our captive distribution channels. But in the last three years, as we expanded into new open-market channels and affinity groups, our spends increased significantly by about 300–400%.

To be clear, the base was low, so the percentage sounds big. But yes, over three years, our spends on print, outdoor, digital, and social media have increased multifold. This shift mirrors our broader distribution evolution and customer targeting.

What does your current media mix look like? How do you decide the right balance between digital and traditional media when building campaigns that need both reach and depth of engagement?

It’s roughly 50-50 between digital and traditional media. In traditional, we consciously avoid TV, instead focusing on print, especially vernacular dailies in the top 35–40 markets, and outdoor media, including hoardings and digital OOH screens in captive cities where we have a strong partner base. in select cities. On digital, we invest heavily in targeted outreach, especially to tier 3 and tier 4 towns, since those are evolving markets for us.

There are two key reasons we avoid TV. First, budget efficiency — TV is expensive, and optimizing spends for ROI is essential. Moreover, the top 7–8 life insurers in India are backed by banks, which are household names. We don’t have that kind of inherent recall, so our TV spends would need to be 3–4 times higher to achieve the same impact.

Second, distribution mismatch — we have a strong presence in certain markets (e.g., the North), but not uniformly pan-India. Since TV is a mass-reach medium, we wouldn’t be able to leverage it optimally without consistent nationwide distribution. 

As a result, over the past three years we’ve tested multiple mediums and focused on those that deliver stronger returns in our core markets.

We also invest in on-ground activations such as events and worksite engagements, which are highly effective for awareness and trust-building.

Are you experimenting with new-age channels like OTT, influencer marketing, or regional content platforms to expand reach?

Absolutely. In our last campaign, vernacular influencer-led storytelling resonated strongly with our audiences. Both long-form and short-form content worked well, and influencer marketing has become an important part of our media mix.

That said, influencer campaigns are not standalone. They work best when integrated into a broader engagement journey, including pre-campaign awareness, influencer storytelling, followed by sustained customer engagement.

We also experimented with OTT platforms like Prime Video and Netflix during a 2020 brand campaign. While useful, other digital platforms gave us higher reach and engagement, so our OTT spends remain small compared to digital and outdoor.

Gen Z is redefining how they engage with financial and insurance brands - seeking transparency, personalization, and digital-first experiences. How is Pramerica Life Insurance tailoring its marketing approach to connect with this segment?

For Gen Z, life insurance is not usually a top-of-mind purchase. Traditionally, the triggers are life events - marriage, parenthood, buying a home. What sets Gen Z apart, though, is that they are fiercely independent decision-makers.

So with them, our focus is more on awareness-building, educating them about the products available, their benefits, and debunking misconceptions. We don’t push aggressive call-to-action like we might with older segments. Instead, we aim to inform and seed the idea early, so that when they reach those trigger moments, they already have awareness.

Do you see digital ecosystems (like partnerships with fintech or online marketplaces) becoming central to your acquisition strategy?

Yes, partnerships are central to our model. We continue to deepen relationships with brokers and agents, while also exploring new partners in fintech and digital marketplaces. These ecosystems help us scale retail acquisition effectively. 

Life insurance is often seen as a rational, need-based product. How do you ensure emotional campaigns like #ThisIsMyClimb also translate into tangible business outcomes?

In India, people readily talk about tangible purchases, such as a car, a house, or a vacation. But insurance is intangible, long-term, and often only benefits the family when the policyholder isn’t around. That makes it harder to communicate.

Our solution has been to simplify messaging and anchor it in life-stage emotions. #Thisismyclimb began as a global Prudential campaign featuring rock climbers, symbolizing the Rock of Gibraltar. In India, we localized it by focusing on personal journeys. For example, a father’s sacrifices, or a jawan’s sister tilling the land while he serves at the border.

These stories strike an emotional chord, which builds trust and empathy. Over time, customers and employees organically shared their own stories under this theme, making it more authentic and impactful.

You’ve emphasized purpose-led campaigns as a growth driver. How do you align brand purpose with business imperatives in an industry driven by trust and long-term relationships?

Brand-building is a long journey. Over time, strong awareness reduces barriers, eases conversations, and supports purchase decisions. But until then, we balance purpose with performance by supplementing brand campaigns with activations, distributor training, and proactive outreach.

We plan our brand journey in multi-year phases while ensuring immediate business outcomes through channel-specific marketing and customer engagement. It’s about running the business today while building enduring trust for tomorrow.

As a CMO, your role today goes beyond brand building into customer retention and engagement. How do you see the role of CMOs evolving in the financial services and insurance sector?

In my opinion, the role of a CMO is no longer just strategic. Strategy remains core, whether for brand, customer experience, or processes, but today it must also be purpose-driven, outcome-led, and accountable. Post-COVID, with digital platforms and analytics, every campaign is measurable and directly linked to business results. This has raised expectations, as CMOs must now show not just vision but also tangible impact.

Another shift is balance. CMOs need to embrace innovation through AI, digital tools, and new-age approaches while staying rooted in fundamentals like compliance, sustainability, and profitability. In essence, the role has evolved from being strategy-focused to being strategy plus purpose and delivery focused, with a balanced view of both innovation and fundamentals.

That’s why today’s CMOs must embody this balance: leveraging new possibilities while staying anchored to core business fundamentals.