How Future Generali is leveraging AI to usher in a future-ready insurance ecosystem

In today’s fast-evolving world of marketing, the role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is more crucial than ever. In Adgully’s new column – CMO Unplugged – we bring you candid insights, expert advice, and thought-provoking discussions directly from the heart of the industry. CMO Unplugged goes beyond the surface to uncover the real strategies, innovations and challenges that define successful marketing leadership today.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Geetanjali Chugh Kothari, Chief Marketing Officer, Future Generali India Life Insurance, shares how the company is revolutionizing the insurance landscape through customer-centric innovations, AI-driven personalization, and inclusive initiatives. With insurance often perceived as complex and transactional, Future Generali is simplifying products, enhancing accessibility, and leveraging cutting-edge technologies to create a seamless, intuitive experience for policyholders. From AI-powered personalized videos to intuitive self-service platforms, the company is committed to making insurance not just a financial safety net but a value-driven relationship built on trust and transparency.

As digital disruption reshapes consumer expectations, Future Generali is at the forefront of leveraging Martech, AI, and emerging technologies like AR and VR to enhance customer engagement. The company is also making strides in inclusivity through its ‘Women in Insurance’ (WiN) initiative, empowering women from non-metro cities with career opportunities and financial literacy. Kothari provides key insights into how Future Generali is redefining the future of insurance marketing in India, blending innovation with purpose to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry.

Insurance has traditionally been viewed as complex and difficult to navigate. How is Future Generali simplifying product offerings while ensuring accessibility and transparency for customers?

At Future Generali India Life Insurance, our unwavering commitment is to make insurance more accessible and relevant for everyone. We design our products with a singular focus – aligning them to the real-life needs and aspirations of our customers.

We strive to empower our customers by effectively conveying how their insurance policies align with their goals and deliver tangible value in achieving them. We leverage cutting-edge digital solutions such as AI-powered personalized videos that provide policy-specific insights, intuitive self-service portals, and easy access to policy information and claims. This transformation enables us to engage meaningfully with our customers – addressing them by name, offering bespoke insights, and ensuring timely and responsive interactions. We understand that families in India are the building blocks of the society, and hence we leverage AI models which help us tailor-made product offerings to serve not just an individual’s requirements but that of their entire family wherever possible. We also equip our team with the tools and training necessary to explain policies in simple terms, so customers can make informed decisions confidently.

To further demystify insurance, we launched the “Unbox Your Policy” campaign, encouraging life insurance policyholders to delve into their policy documents and truly understand the benefits and features. This initiative aims to foster a deeper connection with customers, empowering them to take control of their financial security while offering support through dedicated channels to answer any questions.

At every critical juncture of our customers’ journeys, we aim to go beyond offering just a policy – we aspire to provide enduring value and support, ensuring that insurance seamlessly integrates into their lives with purpose and clarity.

Martech has become a game-changer in delivering seamless, omnichannel experiences. Could you share how Future Generali is leveraging martech to enhance customer engagement and create an experience-first marketing approach?

Our mission is to deliver a seamless omnichannel experience that redefines insurance as more than a transaction – it’s a relationship. Powered by Martech, our innovative approach integrates AI-generated hyper-personalized video messages, real-time analytics, AI-powered and human-assisted customer service and Salesforce’s tools to enhance engagement.

We create immersive customer experiences by offering personalized solutions that adapt to individual needs, from policy-specific insights to intuitive self-service portals. Customers enjoy effortless and 24*7 access to their policy details and claims, ensuring convenience at every touchpoint. Our relationship-driven model fosters trust and connection, transforming insurance into a deeply customer-centric journey.

AI and big data are revolutionizing customer engagement. How is Future Generali utilizing AI-driven insights to offer hyper-personalized insurance solutions, and what impact has this had on customer retention?

AI and analytics are pivotal to our decision-making process, enabling us to transcend traditional insurance models and offer tailored solutions. By analyzing clients’ behaviours, lifestyle choices, and financial goals, we craft services and products that anticipate needs rather than merely reacting to them. We have recently also deployed a GenAI-solution for email correspondence which helps us understand our customers’ sentiments and challenges related to their policies and revert to them in a timely manner.

Furthermore, we are looking to deploy an internal AI chatbot and equip our employees with the power of Gen AI at their fingertips to provide timely and relevant support, while we continue to deploy various advanced analytics and ML solutions to predict customer requirements. This approach has significantly enhanced trust and customer retention, as policyholders feel recognized and valued throughout their journey. The result is a proactive, seamless insurance experience that fosters long-term loyalty. Similarly, we give data privacy the most priority and ensure customer data is treated with the highest security.

With technologies like AR, VR, and automation gaining momentum, how do you see these innovations shaping the future of insurance marketing and customer interactions?

Emerging technologies are redefining how customers navigate policies, foresee advantages, and even envision claim scenarios before they occur or receive interactive guidance before making decisions. Automation is speeding up and simplifying everything from underwriting to claims processing, making insurance faster and more customer friendly.

We endeavour innovation and are exploring new and emerging technologies to enhance customer education, simplify policy selection, and create engaging digital experiences that set new industry benchmarks. By leveraging advanced technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) simulations, and Augmented Reality (AR) we aim to make our marketing and customer interactions more personalised by offering value in various regional languages using natively adopted large language models. In the short to medium term, we are also hoping to utilize AR and VR to build interactive product demos and immersive simulations with avatars where potential policyholders see the long-term financial impact of their choices – illustrating how a life insurance policy can secure their family’s future.

In an increasingly digital ecosystem, what metrics and KPIs does Future Generali prioritize to measure the success of its marketing efforts and optimize customer outreach strategies?

Our success is measured by value-driven engagement rather than just numbers. We track key performance indicators such as Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), Net Promoter Score (NPS), multi-holding and digital interaction rates across self-service tools like chatbots. AI-powered analytics help us assess campaign sentiment and fine-tune marketing strategies in real time. Additionally, we regularly monitor digital enablement to ensure self-service platforms enhance the customer experience rather than create friction.

Future Generali’s ‘Women in Insurance’ initiative is a significant step toward inclusivity. What inspired this initiative, and how is it helping to reshape the industry’s approach to gender diversity and financial empowerment?

Future Generali India Life Insurance’s Women in Insurance (WiN) initiative is a groundbreaking step toward gender inclusion, diversity, and financial empowerment. By recruiting and training young, digitally savvy Gen Z women from non-metro cities, the initiative not only addresses the under-representation of women in the insurance sector but also empowers them with financial knowledge and career opportunities.

Through its specialized ‘Campus to Corporate’ training, WiN provides young women with the skills and industry insights needed to build successful careers in life insurance. By leveraging digital platforms and social media, these women are not just sales professionals but financial educators, creating content that raises awareness about life insurance and financial planning. This unique approach strengthens the industry’s engagement with younger demographics while ensuring that financial literacy reaches a wider audience.

WiN also challenges traditional recruitment models by positioning women as industry leaders and change-makers. By integrating gender diversity into its core business strategy, Future Generali India Life Insurance fosters an inclusive workplace that nurtures talent and encourages leadership. This initiative is more than a sales channel – it is a movement toward financial independence for women, bridging the gender gap in financial services while reshaping the future of the insurance industry.

With evolving consumer expectations and digital disruption, what are your predictions for the future of insurance marketing in India, and how is Future Generali preparing to stay ahead of the curve?

The future of insurance marketing in India lies in hyper-personalization, AI-driven interaction, and real-time customer engagement. Customers no longer just want policies; they want simple, proactive solutions that fit effortlessly into their lifestyle.

Digital disruption is pushing insurers to rethink traditional approaches, shifting from transactional interactions to relationship-driven models. At Future Generali India Life Insurance, we are investing in AI, automation, and data analytics to not only keep pace with these changes, but lead the transformation toward a customer-first, future-ready insurance ecosystem.

Also Read: How Future Generali is arming its mktg arsenal with storytellers, customer evangelists