Sundaram Mutual in collaboration with Social Beat, their digital partner, has just concluded their Sundaram Bluechip Fund New Fund Offering which was open from Sep 17 to Oct 01, 2020.
Sundaram Bluechip Fund is an open-ended equity scheme predominantly investing in large cap blue chip stocks. The NFO had a strong digital push which was instrumental in the offering collecting over ?650 crores from 46,000+ customers spread across 562 cities.
It is notable that, despite the challenges of the COVID19 Pandemic and the Lockdown, this collection figure is a significant increase over those of our previous two NFOs in the last one year (Sundaram Equity Fund – ?358.95 crore in Sep’19 and Sundaram Balanced Advantage Fund ?485.12 crore in Mar’20).
This phenomenal success was partly achieved for Sundaram Mutual by adopting a unique Digital-First approach to the Marketing and Investment Execution process:
Digital Marketing: Using a host of social media handles and digital marketing channels like the Google Ads Network, and industry relevant forums, Social Beat helped Sundaram Mutual leverage various formats to make users aware of the USPs of the fund. This was done through live webinars, videos, informative posts, Live Q&A sessions, podcasts, engagement stories, etc. Social Beat and Sundaram Mutual amplified the theme of a Sumo Wrestler to express the key attributes of Bluechip Large Cap companies – Size, Strength and Agility. The idea was further reinforced with a powerful tagline – #SizeMatters. More topically, to leverage the high digital viewership expected for the IPL during this period, the company also popularised the fund through a cricket-based video on Hotstar. Further, they also leveraged its strong distribution franchise of 35,000 MFDs by facilitating co-branded collaterals – creatives, product notes, videos and more to aid with their selling efforts.
Digital Investment Transaction Execution: To enable customers to transact in a completely frictionless manner, Sundaram Mutual created a wide range of digital enablers for both its distribution partners and investors.
Sundaram Mutual activated a Distributor Initiated Platform (DIT) where transactions could be initiated by distributors and executed upon investor authorization. Further, customized AMFI Registration Number (ARN) hard-coded links were provided, on request, to distributors to in-turn forward to their investors. By simply clicking on the link, investors could transact on a landing page with the distributor’s pre-filled details. A dedicated NFO Helpdesk was also set up to help with operational and digital transaction queries.
On the customer front, investments were accepted on the website through a very simple three-step process either direct, or through their existing distributor, as also through various leading online platforms. Investors were also able to set up SIPs through a paperless eNACH (electronic mandate) feature.
Sundaram Mutual, also reached out to traditional customers through extensive advertising in Print Media. They also facilitated these customers’ desire to convert their investment journey becoming fully Digital by incorporating QR codes in these ads. Scanning the QR code enabled investors to complete their transaction in just a few clicks through the company’s web page. Thus, every newspaper copy became a virtual application form thus leading to millions of application forms in circulation!
A Virtual RM (Relationship Model) was also piloted during this NFO to help distributors and customers transact with remote guidance.
Commenting on the digital success of Sundaram Bluechip Fund, Mr. Sunil Subramaniam, Managing Director, Sundaram Mutual said, “The response to the Sundaram Bluechip NFO was overwhelming in these challenging times! 60% of the applications received through the Digital mode has been a strong validation of the Digital First approach adopted by us. Sundaram Mutual has always been retail-focussed in its distributor and customer approach. Given that Covid had created challenges on the physical infrastructure front for many of our partners, we had to necessarily make the ‘selling and investing’ journey as seamless and paperless as possible. Also, with an increasing number of prospective investors spending a significant part of their time on online media, it was imperative for us to engage them with online marketing campaigns as well as provide digital STP (Straight Through Processing) enablers at scale. The slew of features released by our team and our RTA, along with campaigns have been instrumental in the success of our NFO. On the campaign front, #SizeMatters as a tagline with the Sumo Wrestler visual has been very well received by investors and we are thrilled by the collections! This NFO has thus laid the groundwork to expand our business in the coming years in what can be best described as the Digi-Retail Strategy!”
“The lockdowns have accelerated the digitization of the financial services industry. Sundaram Mutual has been an early mover in the digital space and is now reaping the benefits, with over 46,000 investors for the Sundaram Bluechip NFO. With millions of mutual fund investors now looking to transact online, we are excited about the journey ahead to bring millions of Indian investors onto the Sundaram Mutual platform”, says Suneil Chawla, Co-founder at Social Beat – the digital partner for Sundaram Mutual.
About Sundaram Asset Management Company:
Sundaram Asset Management Company, a significant player in the fund management space along with its subsidiaries, has assets under management of about INR 36,497 crores as on September 30, 2020. The brand has a strong retail focus with over 1.1 million active investors and 90 branches across the country. Sundaram Asset Management Company has a bouquet of sixteen equity and eleven fixed-income funds catering to diverse investor preferences.
For more information on Sundaram Mutual Fund and its products, please visit www.sundarammutual.com
About Social Beat
Founded in 2012, Social Beat is one of India’s leading digital marketing solutions company with offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai & Delhi. We are a young and energetic team of 170+ enthusiastic digital experts who believe in innovative strategies and out-of-the-box solutions for our 50-plus marquee clients. We manage digital media buying over INR 300 crores for clients across Real Estate, BFSI, Retail, Ecommerce & Healthcare.
For more information on Social Beat – please visit www.socialbeat.in
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