Boniface Noronha decodes Axis Mutual Fund’s mission to enhance investor education

One of the leading Indian fund houses, Axis Mutual Fund, has announced the launch of its new insightful and dynamic advertising campaign, titled #SochaSamjhaRisk, which is a 360-degree campaign with the objective of motivating and encouraging the investors to understand individual and personal risk appetites with the assistance provided by Risk Profiler. It also lays emphasis on educating investors about ‘Riskometer’ in order to understand the risk associated with funds and thereby make informed decisions surrounding investment. Most investors easily get carried away by market noise, though they understand the significance of investing. The campaign #SochaSamjhaRisk is aimed at enhancing the education level of the investors, and thereby encourage the individuals in truly understanding the risks associated with their investments.

The first and second videos emphasise on spreading awareness and educating the investors about Riskometer as a key metric and tool to comprehend risks associated with funds. It requires investors to familiarise themselves with the categories of Riskometer and thereby, align them with their goals, comfort levels, duration of investment, for making informed decisions and manage risk efficiently in order to meet the financial goals set by them.

The Risk Profiler is a tool to measure the personal risk-taking appetite of an individual and is designed to assist investors in understanding their differentiated risk-taking capacity by taking into consideration financial objectives and individual goals. Therefore, the third and fourth videos focus on encouraging the investors to identify and assess their appetite for risk in order to make informed decisions.

In conversation with Adgully, Boniface Noronha, SVP & Head, Marketing, Digital & Direct Sales, Axis AMC, stressed, “It is important to note here that while there has been an improvement in the understanding of mutual funds, thanks to multiple awareness drives by AMFI, the category is still relatively new to the Indian markets, and it has only recently seen an uplift.”

What is the concept and idea behind the #SochaSamjhaRisk campaign? What was the core insight behind it? How did you come up with this idea?

While most investors understand the importance of investing, they tend to get swayed easily by market noise. Unfortunately, everyday market fluctuations are treated as the benchmark for ‘Risk’, resulting in mutual funds being perceived as a ‘Risky’ investment avenue. This also paves the way for several misconceptions amongst investors, primarily led by limited understanding of ‘risk’ and ‘tools to mitigate risk’. At Axis MF, we conducted an interesting research on ‘Risk Comprehension’ amongst Indian investors which revealed that while 89% investors believe that risk appetite (among other factors) plays a significant role in choosing the right mutual fund, 53% of investors are not confident of their risk-taking ability.

Therefore, #SochaSamjhaRisk is Axis Mutual Fund’s proactive step towards enhancing investor education and encouraging individuals to truly understand the risks associated with their investments. The campaign has been built on the premise that while many investors understand the importance of staying invested for the long run, most investors do not understand for just how long one must stay invested. Our latest initiative #SochaSamjhaRisk underscores the significance of well-thought-out investment decisions over impulsive, uninformed choices influenced by hearsay or market noise. It is a 360-degree campaign aimed at encouraging investors to understand individual risk appetites with the help of a Risk Profiler. The initiative also focuses on educating investors about the Riskometer to understand fund risk and make informed investment decisions.

Which creative agency has conceptualised the campaign and what was the brief given to them?

The campaign has been creatively conceptualised and led by Mirum India, a part of the WPP group. Our brief to the agency was rather simple. Most of us must have read, heard, or at some point seen, the often-quoted 14 letter disclaimer that goes ‘Mutual Funds are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully’. Now the question to ask here is, just how many investors truly understand what risks we are referring to. It is important to note here that while there has been an improvement in the understanding of mutual funds, thanks to multiple awareness drives by AMFI, the category is still relatively new to the Indian markets, and it has only recently seen an uplift.

Choosing the right mutual fund can be difficult and confusing as each investor’s investing capacity and objectives are different. Additionally, the Riskometer can seem like a daunting tool for an uninformed investor. We wanted to change this attitude to something more positive. So, the one-liner brief was “To get investors to understand risk-o-meters based on which they should be making informed investment decisions”. We wanted this Investor Awareness Initiative to be true to its name and empower investors with the requisite knowledge of the available tools to take #SochaSamjhaRisk.

Who is the TG for this campaign and what was your thought process while coming up with the ad films?

The beauty of this campaign is that it appeals to all investors across age categories. As of now, no AMC has attempted to educate the investors on disclosures and disclaimers. Therefore, the films have been carefully designed in a manner so as to resonate with all individuals who are keen on understanding mutual funds to start their financial journeys. Axis Mutual Fund’s #SochaSamjhaRisk is a one of its-first kind of initiatives aimed at changing the dynamics of investor education by actively encouraging people to ‘understand and decode risk’. #SochaSamjhaRisk capitalises on the core human insight of staying away from everything seemingly ‘Risky’ without truly understanding the ‘Risks’ involved. The four slice of life films capture everyday interactions to create a stronger resonance with the target audience.

Watch the ad films:

Video 1: https://youtu.be/P2flUrzhTPc

Video 2: https://youtu.be/YLAr-9zzF3M

Video 3: https://youtu.be/ghZclymEza0

Video 4: https://youtu.be/oAxZNSo7Xng

All four videos of the campaign are your everyday slice-of-life situations, which have been designed in a manner to focus on two key elements that are central to the campaign. We have two videos that focus on spreading awareness and educating investors about Riskometer as a key tool to understand fund risk. By familiarising themselves with the Riskometer’s categories and aligning them with their comfort levels, goals, and investment durations, investors can make informed decisions and effectively manage risks to meet their financial goals. The remaining two videos focus on the Risk Profiler, a tool to gauge one’s personal risk-taking appetite and help investors understand their unique risk-taking capacity by factoring in individual goals and financial objectives. They emphasise on encouraging investors to assess their risk appetite to make informed decisions.

What do you mean by a Riskometer and a Risk Profiler?

Whenever you open a scheme-related document, one of the first things you will see is a semicircle with an arrow pointing towards the ‘Risk’ levels associated with that fund. The Riskometer is a standardised tool used by mutual fund houses to communicate the risk levels of individual funds. It offers a visual representation of a fund’s risk profile that uses a needle (like that of a compass) to represent different risk levels ranging from Low Risk, Moderately Low Risk, Moderate Risk, Moderately High Risk, High Risk, and Very High Risk. The Riskometer acts as a helpful guide for investors, helping them grasp the risks associated with investing in mutual funds.

A Risk Profiler is a self-assessment tool that can help individuals understand their own risk appetites for a particular goal and plan their investment journey accordingly. Typically, investors need to answer a series of questions focusing on factors such as financial goals, time horizon, investment preferences, and risk aversion to understand their approach to different situations, basis which their risk appetite will be revealed.

What is the marketing mix for the campaign? How did you develop it at a time when there is a requirement for the creation of awareness on ‘Risk Comprehension’?

#SochaSamjhaRisk is a 360-degree campaign, wherein we have leveraged the power of print, digital, OOH, online, TV and content. Wanting the connect with ‘Bharat’, we have ensured communication in six regional languages (4 films x 8 languages = 32 total combinations), targeting SEC A and B in a pan-India campaign.

As mentioned earlier, we conducted a pan-India survey with Axis MF investors prior to the launch of the campaign. Our survey revealed that of the 27% respondents who claimed to take risk appetite into account, 64% were not aware of risk profiler as a tool to evaluate risk appetite. This indicates that investors know the importance of risk profiling, but might not be aware of ‘Risk Profiler’ as a tool for assessing personal risk, leading to a potential mismatch between personal risk and that of the fund. As high as 61% of the respondents were not aware of what risk-o-meter indicates. Only 16% of the total respondents who were aware of a ‘Riskometer’ and that it indicated ‘Fund’ risk, claimed to check the ‘Riskometer’ before making an investment. We figured there was a need to educate investors on these tools and empower them to make informed decisions.

What are the innovative technologies and strategies that are utilised by Axis Mutual Fund in order to increase reach, thereby spreading awareness on responsible investment? How is Axis Mutual Fund leveraging technology and digital media to promote the campaign?

Along with the 4 films that we have for the main campaign, there is an extensive marketing plan that has been curated and is being executed for our different audience sets. We have used a technology where it works like an interactive video, and the person can get to know his risk profile is based on the inputs, live. We sent out this unique link to our investor base as well as our distributor base.

We have deep dived extensively into Tier 2 and 3 markets in regional languages. Our B2B set up for this campaign has also been quite strong and robust. Additionally, to empower every consumer with the knowledge of this campaign we have sent out multiple communications where we talk about how each person is a responsible manager and how each distributor acts like a personal risk manager to his/her investor.

What are the factors that people consider before investing in mutual funds in India currently?

The mutual fund industry is at an interesting inflection point today, underscored by the increasing influx of investors in the category. While we continue to grow as an industry, enabling investors to make informed investment decisions is also our responsibility. We strongly believe that an educated, financially literate, and well-informed customer is an Investor for Lifetime. According to our survey, buoyed by the awareness drives by regulators, fund houses, and distributors, investors have recognised the importance of investing their hard-earned money to potentially appreciate it, and one of the increasingly preferred investment avenues is Mutual Funds.

However, 59% investors still consider past performance as one of the key benchmarks for investing in mutual funds. Often, mainly influenced by market noise, investors tend to redeem their investments even though they are aware of the importance of long-term investing and power of compounding. According to data by AMFI, 22.2% equity investors stay invested for 12-24 months and in total 48.7% equity investors redeem their portfolio within two years or less.

Even though 89% investors believe that understanding ‘risk appetite’ plays a role in choosing the right mutual fund, only 27% investors said that they actually took their risk appetite into consideration before investing. Therefore, #SochaSamjhaRisk focuses on debunking the perception that ‘All mutual funds are risky’ and instead, encourages investors to make informed and strategic choices by understanding the risks involved.

Source: AMFI, Axis MF Investor Survey