Promoting Mutual Funds: Right Campaign, Wrong Message

The campaign of ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’ to promote mutual funds led to the desired result and helped the industry to on-board over 50 lakh new investors within 12 months of its launch. Yet, on deeper analysis it appears that it was ‘void ab initio’. Now, however, the revised campaign seems to be on the right track

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It’s now three years since the mutual fund industry started the ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’ campaign. It was the first time in the history of the Indian mutual fund industry that all its members came together to engage in a promotional campaign. Taking a leaf out of the National Egg Coordination Committee’s ‘Roz Khao Ande’ campaign, the mutual fund industry body, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), started the ‘Mutual Funds Sahi Hai’ campaign in March 2017. The idea of both the campaigns was to expand consumer base through spreading awareness and usefulness about the product. The campaign was aimed to quell the long-held perception that investments in mutual fund products are risky.

Till a few years back, physical assets such as gold and real estate were the preferred investment avenues for many investors. Through the campaign the industry body wanted the common man to understand and decipher mutual funds as an investment product. To do so, the AMFI pulled out all the stops for this campaign. The cross-media campaign (TV, digital, print and other media) was used to depict real-life narratives to explain the benefits of investing in mutual funds. It resonated well across different states through regional languages. AMFI made sure that it was present at every big ticket event such as IPL and engaged with every age group in their own language.

Impact on Mutual Fund Industry