Etiqa SG CMO: 'Fear-based marketing creates short-term results not long-lasting relationships'

It is a known fact that the online space has become increasingly crowded, with brands competing for consumers' attention. To cut through the clutter and stand out, Etiqa Singapore believes in humanising the insurance industry by putting people first and keeping ethical marketing in mind. CMO Shirley Tan (pictured) told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the company ensures ads are honest and trustworthy as it believes insurance is for the greater good.

"Brands guided by ethical marketing processes and standards will tend to evaluate all decisions from the business and moral perspective, keeping consumers' interests at heart," Tan said. According to her, Etiqa Singapore does not have fine prints on brochures in the spirit of being transparent to customers. Full policy contracts are also available on the website before purchase.

Previously, Etiqa relied very much on data-driven marketing to inform the development of new products and services for our consumers. However, Tan said there is a need to go one step further to combine technology and data strategies and incorporate a personalised approach following COVID-19. The insurer conducted customer focus groups to understand their needs in designing its products. and relied on insights derived from customers' enquiries to understand their concerns and feel that into continued improvements to Etiqa's product and service communications.

As consumers shifted to digital, Etiqa made sure to keep up by creating its online digital channel as early as 2016. Its online insurance brand, Tiq by Etiqa, was launched in 2018. While she did not specify how much of Etiqa's marketing budget has shifted to digital over the years, Tan said marketing budgets continue to shift and ad spend will be much more targeted, responsive, and effective across digital channels. 

Etiqa is currently on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube and its social media posts, in particular, are light-hearted and bright. This approach was also adopted for its recent campaign “Protect what lies ahead; cheering to a longer runway in life and celebrating the joy of longer runway in life”.

Done in collaboration with ADK and inspired by an airline in-flight safety video, the campaign took a more lighthearted approach to the topic of insurance and built upon some universal truths and behaviour around protection that continue to deeply impact Singaporeans. The video features certain aspects of the airline safety messages that travellers are all familiar with, such as oxygen masks dropping from the panel above and securing oneself and securing oneself with the seatbelt

The idea for the campaign came about from wanting to appeal to audiences without any hard-hitting tales of life's crises with tragic reminders that disaster could strike them anytime, as they are only part of the story of life. Tan said:

While fear-based marketing may lead to short-term results, it is ineffective in creating long-lasting relationships with customers and building the brand.

In addition to a dedicated webpage, Etiqa's campaign video was marketed via mainstream TV such as channels U, 5 and 8, as well as digital channels such as YouTube, paid and organic social and digital displays. Etiqa also works with Brave Communications for its PR efforts.

"While online channels are easier to measure and more cost-effective than offline channels, they do not have the personalised approach," Tan said, adding that both online and offline channels need to co-exist and integrate well to deliver the best outcome. "With the digital universe becoming incredibly saturated, it is right to re-examine offline marketing channels to create more authentic and personalised customer experiences," she added. While it does not currently have a presence on social media channels such as Snapchat and TikTok, Etiqa remains open to exploring avenues that its customers embrace.

Rise of user-generated content

A 2021 report by market research and consulting company Grand View Research revealed that the global user generated content (UGC) platform market size was valued at USD 2.97 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.6% from 2021 to 2028, with the APAC region forecasted to expand at the highest CAGR over the same period. 

Additionally, a study by Australia-based content marketing platform Stackla found that 90% of consumers will trust UGC over traditional advertising. Nine in 10 (90%) believe that authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support, with 70% saying they would trust online opinions.

User-generated content (UGC) is popular nowadays and some brands such as Apple, BMW, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs and Starbucks, among others, have known to repost content created by followers. When asked how UGC makes the brand's marketing more personalised and relatable, Tan explained that consumers are the newest brand ambassadors and are now proactively taking steps to co-create brands. "They are no longer 'taking what we sell' but becoming prosumers. It will be interesting to see how companies continue to utilise user-generated content for effective word of mouth marketing," she said.

Jumping onboard the UGC trend, Etiqa launched TiqTribe, a social rewards platform that brings crowdsourcing knowledge, experiences, and inspirations for all to live life to the fullest. The platform supports UGC by rewarding activity on its community platform. For instance, participants can earn additional points by sharing tips and experiences with other users. 

Evolution of the marketer's role and trends to look out for

Without a doubt, marketing has changed over the years and Tan said CMOs nowadays are challenged to function as chief growth officers. They are also now required to equip themselves with digital and technical expertise to adjust to the new normal. "A deep understanding of psychology is now required to understand consumers' behaviour and create memorable experiences that eventually drive purchase decisions," she said.

At the same time, using analytics to demonstrate the actual return on investment and business value of marketing is now a baseline. Being able to understand statistics and use that to develop actionable data-driven insights will become increasingly important in building data and insights-driven marketing organisations that are agile and resilient, she said.

Meanwhile, the key marketing trends that Tan is excited about are hyper-personalisation and the SG agenda. According to Tan, delivering a great customer experience is now made possible with AI and real-time data delivering more relevant content, product, and service information to each user. This approach takes personalised marketing a step further across all communication channels and throughout all stages of the customer journey.

Meanwhile, ESG has become an increasing priority for the insurance services sector as well. ESG is expected to become something companies leverage as a trend to deliver more relevant products and services while satisfying the needs of purpose-driven consumers. "Businesses moving to the "social purpose model", which brings intangible benefits to customers – the emotional, aspirational type of benefits- will continue to do well," Tan added.