MUMBAI: Ramkumar Uppara, a seasoned public relations strategist with over 20 years of experience, has taken on the role of director of communications and public relations at Crisil. Uppara brings with him a wealth of expertise in corporate communications, crisis management, and stakeholder engagement.
Most recently, as senior vice president of PR and communications at Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, he played a pivotal role in transforming the bank into a leading retail institution, aligning communication strategies with the bank’s business objectives. His initiatives enhanced stakeholder relationships and reinforced the bank’s commitment to financial inclusion.
Uppara has also held significant positions at renowned organisations including Ketchum Sampark and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, where he honed his skills in reputation management and brand advocacy. Throughout his career, he has earned recognition for crafting strategic PR campaigns that elevate brand visibility and drive significant business growth.
With a diverse background spanning sectors such as banking, healthcare, and real estate, Uppara is poised to bring innovative PR strategies to Crisil, enhancing the firm’s communication framework and overall market presence.
Mumbai: Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (Ujjivan SFB) announced the launch of its new brand campaign ‘Banking Jaise Meri Marzi, Ujjivan makes it easy-easy (Bank the way you want, Ujjivan makes it easy-easy)’. The campaign underscores the Bank’s dedication to giving customers the freedom to bank at their convenience, with a secure and hassle-free experience.
The campaign’s catchy jingle, ‘Banking Jaise Meri Marzi, Ujjivan makes it easy-easy,’ depicts a more easy and convenient way of banking with Ujjivan, saving time and effort. The film illustrates that banking with Ujjivan is both effortless and enjoyable, across phygital platforms. Ujjivan meets the diverse needs of its customers at their convenience, be it a working professional seeking accessibility, convenience, and personalisation or senior citizens seeking simplicity and trust in traditional banking.
The seven-week brand campaign commences on 2 September 2024, in eleven regional languages. This will be amplified across the web, OTT channels, and social media platforms through influencer engagement as well as at Ujjivan branches.
Ujjivan executive director Carol Furtado said, “As a responsible mass market bank, we are committed to creating a financial and digitally inclusive future for our customers. Our new campaign is an assurance to make banking easy, accessible – anytime, anywhere across phygital channels, in a secure and safe way. Our digital banking product suite aims to establish us as an easy and convenient Banking Partner.”
Ujjivan CMO Lakshman Velayutham said, “Customers perceive Banking as a necessary time-consuming chore. Our new campaign emphasises that banking with Ujjivan is now Easy-Easy. Our digital native customers have inspired this jingle and jig. We are confident that the film will make one hum and discover the easy way to banking and building better lives.”
The campaign has been conceptualised and created by Plan B Advertising. Talking about the campaign, Plan B Advertising, Bengaluru CEO Sunil Penugonda said, “There are banks and there are banks. Only rarely do you encounter a bank like Ujjivan. A bank that is deeply committed to keeping the customer at the centre. It is the first time we have seen a bank where customer service is a part of culture rather than a feature. Easy and Convenient is exactly what the film is attempting to capture. We believe that this proposition of easy banking will settle into people’s minds, thanks to the jingle, which is simple, direct, and memorable.”
Speaking about the campaign, Plan B creative director Karthik Venkataraman added “To communicate the plethora of products and services and their benefits, we chose to present them with a happy, hummable jingle. We then combined it with some fun, new age hook steps, choreographed in an easy and unique way! Together, they bring alive our offerings in a memorable manner.”
Mumbai: Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (Ujjivan SFB), a small finance bank, has launched of its sonic brand identity, named ‘The Sound of Ujjivan’. The sonic identity aims to strengthen the connection with the customers through the strategic use of sound.
At the heart of sonic identity is the bank’s sonic logo, crafted to capture fundamental values like opportunity and freedom which seamlessly resonates with what Ujjivan stands for – trust and progress.
Conceptualised and created by Unmute, a Scandinavian sonic branding agency, the new sonic identity helps the customers connect emotionally with the bank. Unmute has used the ’Geneva Emotional Music Scale’ – a model designed to describe how humans respond emotionally to music. When adapting this method to the Ujjivan brand, a list of descriptors were defined and used as a common “language” throughout the creation process. As music is very subjective, it’s important to find ways to evaluate the sound from the brand’s perspective.
The new sonic identity will be integrated across various customer touchpoints including phone banking, mobile banking applications, ATMs and the website.
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank executive director Carol Furtado said, “Since its inception, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has been a partner in progress to millions of customers. To deepen this relationship, ‘The Sound of Ujjivan’ is a heartfelt endeavour to create a strong brand recall. The new sonic identity reflects our commitment to enhancing the customer experience, across all touchpoints both physical and digital.”
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank CMO Lakshman Velayutham said “Music has the power to create an emotional connect with the customers and capture the true essence of a brand. The Sound of Ujjivan is not merely a branding initiative, but a reflection on the need to create a universal musical expression that captures the spirit of Ujjivan, making it both relatable and engaging for our diverse audience.”
Commenting on the association, Unmute’s Simon Kringel, said “Ujjivan has really embraced their sonic branding and for us it’s been a fascinating collaboration. Coming from another part of the world we’ve had to learn so much about Indian music and culture; and by adding our own musical touch I think we’ve achieved a sound that is unique, distinctive and truly cross-cultural.”
Mumbai: Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (Ujjivan SFB), a small finance bank in India, has launched a unique initiative on ‘World No Tobacco Day’ to drive awareness amongst individuals to make healthier financial choices. The initiative is to catch people’s attention when they are least expecting and make them think.
To ensure that the message reaches the right audience, Ujjivan SFB will distribute creatively designed lookalike cigarette boxes in high footfall smoking zones, such as around corporate offices, malls, nukkads etc. Each cigarette pack is designed with the message ‘Healthy habit to save more’. Additionally, the cards within the boxes will encourage people to explore options like opening savings and fixed deposit at an attractive interest rate, for better financial health.
Commenting on the initiative, Ujjivan SFB CMO Lakshman Velayutham said, “The ‘World No Tobacco Day’, initiative is about presenting another choice to people. While they are aware, we are trying to serve a reminder with choices that they could possibly make. We believe our messages on ‘Savings Habit’ and ‘Wealth Creation’, without stepping into their personal space, will have the desired positive impact”.
The three-day campaign starting 29 May 2024 will cover 100 plus urban and semi-urban locations across 30 cities in India, including Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Hyderabad, Assam, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Ghaziabad, Noida, Delhi and Bengaluru.
MUMBAI: Known to be the one-stop destination for entertainment that also provides viewers an affordable viewing experience, ALTBalaji, one of India’s leading homegrown platforms, has joined hands with Ujjivan Small Finance Bank. As part of the deal, Ujjivan Bank customers can avail of a 15 per cent discount on the ALTBalaji subscription by using the Ujjivan Bank RuPay Debit Card.
Having played a vital role in the massification of content in Tier II and III markets, ALTBalaji has revolutionized how India consumes content. Led by its clutter-breaking shows, that span diverse genres, the homegrown platform has established a foothold in non-metros like no other. With Ujjivan Bank’s diversified portfolio seeing more than 39 per cent of its customers spread across semi-urban and rural markets, this partnership helps ALTBalaji reach out to a fresh set of viewers from Bharat by making their content more accessible.
Customers can use the offer which is valid till 31 October , 2020 by using the code FIFJ7by. The code is applicable for the Quarterly Subscription pack and its validity will start from the date of activation. Users can click on the link https://bit.ly/ALTBalaji_Baarish_S2 and they will be navigated to the app store or Google Play Store depending on their smartphone. This association will allow ALTBalaji to tap into a new set of customers while simultaneously motivating them to stay indoors.
"Having established our presence with entertaining Hindi originals, we have been working towards the massification of OTT space across markets. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank's well-established presence will see us tap into a new segment of hinterland audiences and help them discover our engaging content. With a vast number of viewers in these areas having an account with Ujjivan Bank, this association will ease the subscription process for them with value benefits. Users can avail this offer in just a few clicks making it extremely simple and convenient,” ALTBalaji CEO, and, Balaji Telefilms Group COO Nachiket Pantvaidya said.
MUMBAI: Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB) has unveiled its debut brand campaign on television that attempts to strategically position it as a bank of choice among the target consumer segments using its key service propositions of ‘doorstep account ipening’, ‘paperless banking’ and ‘special service envelope for senior citizens’.
The commercial that is already live across Kannada and Bengali channels, will progress to a national outreach in the next three weeks.
Ujjivan’s creative agency DDB Mudra has conceptualised the campaign.
“Yeh bank to ghar bhi aata hai” (this bank comes to your doorstep) is one of the core messages of the thematic campaign. Ujjivan SFB targets the underserved and unserved segments in urban, semi urban and rural India. Opening a bank account and undertaking transactions at bank branches are considered as a complex and tedious procedure by these customer segments. Ujjivan SFB makes this otherwise cumbersome process fast, seamless and secure using Aadhaar authentication on a biometric enabled handheld device right at customer’s doorstep and an account can be opened in less than 10 minutes.
Ujjivan SFB chief marketing officer Vijay Balakrishnan says, “We are pleased to unveil the thematic TVC today starting with two of our key markets Karnataka and West Bengal. In the coming weeks, the television commercials’ outreach will be extended nationally thereby reaching our over 3.8 million customers across 24 states in India. Over the next few months, the campaign will leverage a multimedia approach with extensions in print, cinema, outdoor and digital.”
In this campaign there is a sub message of Ujjivan having transformed into an SFB from its previous avatar of being an NBFC-MFI. Ujjivan also consciously departs from its earlier positioning and tag line of ‘build a better life’ to ‘Bank Better, Live Better’ (Behtar Banking, Behtar Jeevan).
Besides Hindi, the TVC has been adapted in various vernacular languages: Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati and Oriya for widespread reach and connect with the masses.
