We are super excited to have Madhuri Dixit too as our brand ambassador: Abhinav Iyer

We are super excited to have Madhuri Dixit too as our brand ambassador: Abhinav Iyer

Abhinav Iyer, Senior General Manager - Marketing & Strategy, Muthoot Finance, is upbeat about the association with actor Madhuri Dixit, and launch of the recent campaign ‘Kholiye Khushiyon ki Tijori’

Srabana LahiriUpdated: Monday, February 06, 2023, 10:49 AM IST
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New brand ambassador Madhuri Dixit with Alexander George Muthoot, JMD, Eapen Alexander, ED, and Abhinav Iyer, Senior GM of Muthoot Finance |

What have you set out to do with your recent campaign ‘Kholiye Khushiyon ki Tijori’? What is the Muthoot Group’s strategic purpose behind it?

Our newest marketing campaign ‘Muthoot Finance Gold Loans - Kholiye Khushiyon ki Tijori’ is all about unlocking happiness by putting your gold, that is lying idle, to work. The campaign is anchored by Amitabh Bachchan, our brand ambassador, and includes a bouquet of four powerful films, with each film talking about one or two unique and unparalleled advantages of Muthoot Finance gold loans. 

Quite differently this time, all four films have been curated in an emotive way, drawing a parallel to real-life human emotions that make them very easily relatable for audiences, while also presenting the core product benefit of Muthoot Finance gold loans. 

The strategic thinking behind the campaign is to encourage people to monetize the gold jewellery lying idle and unproductive in safes and lockers because of old-world beliefs or social taboos or general reluctance amongst first time loan-seekers. ‘Kholiye Khushiyon ki Tijori’ strongly encourages the utilization of this idle gold to enable people do things that can help them progress in their lives, realize their dreams, pursue their passions and unlock happiness for them and their families. 

 

Would you like to comment on the 7-layer security infrastructure described in one of the four TVCs that are part of this campaign? How have you been amplifying the campaign? 

One of the four films in this series is about showcasing our world-class, 7-layer strong safety and security infrastructure. The film addresses the paramount customer need for safety and security of their pledged gold. It captures a strong universal emotion that all of us recognize and experience in our everyday lives – the constant vigil of our brave soldiers on our country’s international borders to keep all of us safe and secure in our homes. The film draws an analogy to this human emotion of unquestionable faith and trust that we have in our country’s bravehearts. Similarly, at Muthoot Finance, keeping a customer’s gold safe is our topmost priority powered by 24x7 CCTV surveillance, AI-powered security infrastructure, OTP-enabled strong rooms, 100% insured lockers, security guards and much more.

The idea is to assure customers that their emotional assets – that is, their household jewellery – is extremely safe and secure in our 5750+ branch strong rooms. 

On campaign amplification, ‘Kholiye Khushiyon ki Tijori’ is a 360-degree, integrated marketing campaign live across TV, Print, Digital, Out of Home, Activation and various BTL mediums. 

How effective has the campaign ‘Kholiye Khushiyon ki Tijori’ been since its recent launch? What kind of response did you see from loan-seekers with regard to unlocking their gold?

The response has been extremely encouraging, and we are seeing a notable growth in business contributed by new customer acquisitions. We expect this trend to grow throughout Q4 of FY23. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), there is more than 25,000 tonnes of household gold in India and less than 5% of this is monetized by way of gold loans. Our campaign ‘Kholiye Khushiyon ki Tijori’ is helping us grow the gold loan segment as a whole and in bringing about a change in the way people perceive gold loans. 

Madhuri Dixit has just become the first female brand ambassador of Muthoot Finance. How does this tie in with the marketing objectives of Muthoot Finance as a brand? What are the plans ahead for collaborating with her?

Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit, Brand Ambassadors of Muthoot Finance

Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit, Brand Ambassadors of Muthoot Finance |

We are super excited that in addition to Amitabh Bachchan, we also have Madhuri Dixit as our brand ambassador. This is a major step-up for us in the brand’s marketing transformation journey, which has been ongoing for the last five years. Madhuri has for long demonstrated a strong connection with diverse audiences through a wide array of performances. Her charismatic appeal, both nationally and internationally, alongside her popularity across all age groups, her versatility, and most importantly, her clean image, strongly resonate with the brand’s culture and values, making her a natural fit for Muthoot Finance. 

In 2022, in our highly successful and much awarded marketing campaign ‘Muthoot Finance Sunheri Soch Season-2’, Madhuri had narrated some highly inspiring, true stories of Muthoot Finance customers for whom gold loans had provided timely help in making their dreams come true.

We are aiming to nurture a mutually beneficial and long-lasting association with Madhuri who can surely play a pivotal role in shaping perceptions, particularly that of the female audiences who are in a large majority of cases the true owners and custodians of household gold. They can in turn be a prominent change agent in bringing about an attitudinal transformation amongst first time loan-seekers, in making gold loans a smart choice rather than being a last resort. 

What has been the uptake for Muthoot Finance’s ‘Gold Loan at Home’ service? 

Muthoot Finance ‘Gold Loan at Home’ is a category defining offering that we launched in 2020. It helps customers avail a gold loan from the comfort of their homes. It is quick, reliable and convenient, thereby making it a very popular service amongst our customers. Earlier, we had observed that many customers were reluctant to visit branches to avail a gold loan due to inhibitions or reluctance to physically carry gold to the branch. This service has tremendously helped such customers, by avoiding the hassle of visiting a branch. The best part of this doorstep service is that the staff visiting the customer’s home are dedicated, full-service Muthoot Finance employees who depart only after the loan proceeds have been credited to the customer’s account. Further, the customer’s gold is fully insured and safe in our nearest Muthoot Finance branch’s strong rooms. More than 4,000 Muthoot Finance branches being enabled on loan@home service is a testimony of its growing popularity. 

 

Tell us about Muthoot Group being classified as an ‘Upper Layer NBFC’ by the Reserve Bank of India. What does it mean for the brand? What would you like to share about the company’s ongoing digitization drive?

Muthoot Finance’s inclusion in the upper layer NBFC list by the Reserve Bank of India is a huge value recognition for the company and our stakeholders. This acknowledgement will further enable us to contribute to the economic growth of our nation. We expect this classification to bring more operational flexibility under RBI’s revised scale-based regulatory framework and massive opportunity for us in the gold loan industry. 

As part of our digital initiatives, Muthoot Finance has so far clocked over 95 lakh digital transactions, valued at Rs 8,000 crore. As such, the company has managed to transfer 40% of its gold loan transactions online and we will continue to further strengthen our digital strategy. We are also creating a strong Muthoot Digital ecosystem. We have revamped our corporate website www.muthootfinance.com on design thinking approach, in addition to our AI-powered Chatbot. Now, customers can also make instant interest and loan repayments through all digital modes including Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe, Muthoot WhatsApp channel, Muthoot Chatbot, etc. We have also launched the gold loan industry’s first customer loyalty rewards programme ‘Muthoot Finance Gold Milligram Rewards’ wherein customers can earn 24 carat gold on every transaction and also on referring successful customers to us. 

Going ahead, what will be your top marketing priorities for Muthoot Finance? What are the plans?

Our ongoing marketing transformation journey has two main objectives which we will continue to focus on in a more significant and impactful way. Firstly, to broad-base the gold loan category by getting more and more new people and first-time loan seekers to avail the benefits of Muthoot Finance Gold Loans. We will do this by busting myths around gold loans, by creating greater awareness about the positives of gold loans, and by showcasing testimonials of countless others who have availed gold loans from us and transformed their lives. Secondly, we will continue to work towards bringing about a mindset change in people towards gold loans and help them realize that this is a great product which should be availed without hesitation or reluctance, rather with pride. In other words, our marketing communications will work towards making gold loan a readily acceptable lifestyle product, a product that emerges as your first choice and not as the last resort. We are confident that with two eminent celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit, we will be able to convey this message effectively to our audiences and meet our business objectives convincingly. 

(AS TOLD TO SRABANA LAHIRI)

Abhinav Iyer, Senior General Manager - Marketing & Strategy, Muthoot Finance

Abhinav Iyer, Senior General Manager - Marketing & Strategy, Muthoot Finance |

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